This small dabbling duck is a Blue-winged Teal, seen at Green Cay on April 9. This is a male, with the bold white stripe in front of his eye.

I love his speckles!

Here is a female, I believe, stretching a wing and leg on the same side of her body… just like my hens used to do.

Small dabbling ducks have such a pleasing shape. Don’t you just feel relaxed and peaceful when you look at a duck at rest?

The Blue-winged Teal is among the latest ducks to migrate northward in spring, and one of the first to migrate southward in fall.

They love warm weather, lingering in Florida with the last of the snowbirds.

Blue-winged Teal spend the winter/ non-breeding season in the far south of the U.S., and in Central America and northern South America. They breed in summer in the northern U.S. and Canada.

Cool fact: Blue-winged Teal are the second most abundant duck in North America, behind the Mallard.

Blue-winged teal are the second smallest duck in North America and are highly distinctive during flight due to their bright blue wing patch. Populations are highly responsive to wetland conditions in their breeding range; those years with many small temporary wetlands in the Prairie Pothole Region typically produce large hatches of this species.

Glory be to God for dappled things