Today's FFF is the lovely duck, the Green-winged Teal. We spotted this little beauty in Palm Beach County, FL at Green Cay Wetlands in early February 2010. We don't see these guys too often, but when we do, it's always a treat! I find the male Green-winged Teal to be one of the handsomest ducks. He rocks so many different colors and patterns and gets away with it. He has that beautiful rufous head with that large brush stroke of bright, shiny metallic green on his head. His body looks mostly gray with the fine black and pale barring, and then he has that speckly buffy breast, a white bar near his shoulder, brownish-gray wings, and a pale yellow streak on his tail outlined in black. And of course, he dons that bold green speculum on his wings.
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| Male Green-Winged Teal in all his glory |
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| Male Green-winged Teal doing a little preening and showing off all of his colors |
Yes, this little dabbler (our smallest dabbling duck), is such a special sight indeed. When we found this beautiful male, we also found him with his lovely lady. Of course, she isn't showy in her colors like her male counterpart, but she still sports that green speculum.
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| A female and male Green-winged Teal |
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| A lovely couple of Green-winged Teals just hanging around |
This was the best look of Green-winged Teals that we've had to date. Other times we've seen them, they've been farther away or swimming to get far away from us. But this couple didn't seem to mind us ogling them. We even caught an intimate moment between them when the female seemed to be nagging at her mate. Oh, it's all out of love!
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| "I told you to take out the trash!" |
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| "Hmph!" She says. Now she's giving him the cold shoulder. |
Great shots! Green-Winged Teal do seem to be camera shy, perhaps a hold-over from their being-the-smallest-dabbler syndrome.
ReplyDeleteYou did indeed get some nice intimate photos though, so clear and crisp one can smell the Teal. The female really is laying into him there, "We should have moved north by now! Why are you dragging your feet! Don't you know anything!?"
To which he must have responded, "Baby, when you look this good you don't have to know anything."
Haha... Thanks! And yup, I can totally see that conversation going on =D
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