Green-winged Teal

Cold, Snow and wind makes a guy dream of Spring. It can’t get here fast enough.
Green-wings are one of the toughest to photograph, just so quick.

Love that colour on their wings. Great pics, Tray. Thank you.

Excellent! Thank you for posting those.

Zim

Stunning as usual. Tray!
That quickness makes them hard to hit with a shotgun, too. At least for me!

Fantastic pics!

oh that breaks the -40 doldrums, Thanks
first pic lower right leg looks like some wedding band attached

We have a few that nest here, but not near as many as blue wing teal. I saw them on the islands in the Aleutian chain nesting.

Nice captures on those speed demons .

Very cool. I remember the first time I hunted puddle ducks I felt bad when I retrieved it and was in awe at how beautiful they are. I love the winter.

They are fun to shoot at

Shoot at one hit the one 3 birds back, they scoot.

Excellent captures as usual Tray, thanks for sharing.

Great photos

Stunning photos. You should work for National Geographic.

Excellent

Great pics!!

You are a superb wildlife photographer!!!

Thanks everyone, glade you guys enjoy.




U made me look….but I don’t see anything.



We get some nesting here, but never see a lot during breeding season.

Fantastic pics

We get a few teal on our strip pits
Always have a few Mergansers and green heads also.
And always flooded with freak'n Canadians every winter.

Thanks

First duck I got when I was about 12 years old. I believe it's the only greenwing I've ever got.

We make hunting them more difficult, I try to have a Drakes Only rule in the blind.Trying to pick out a drake out of a flock buzzing by can be difficult and any hesitation will cost a guy his chance for a shot.

Great pics! You captured the essence of those little buggers!

Moosetrot

Top two for table fare in my opinion.
Right behind a wood duck.
We killed almost 300 of them little jokers out of our blind this season.

Love the photos you post I, like Wood ducks a lot.

great pic, thanks for sharing, also great eating ducks,

We have way more blue wing teal. It would be close to 100 blue wing nests to 1 green wing. I never looked a the numbers when I worked for Delta Waterfowl, but I can remember the nest draggers acting like it was a big deal to find a green wing nest.

Wow,,,,warms the heart on a cold winter day

Great pics, loved hunting those little things!

Great pics! Thanks!

I killed the only one I ever shot at near Cape May NJ about 10 years ago It was a beautiful duck But than they all are And being on the small side you can generally find a place to put a smaller mount that looks nice You guys with the cameras are magicians when it comes to getting great pictures

Wonderful pics, thanks. Reminds me of the rice fields back in SW Louisiana and many great hunts there.

I kinda learned the ropes to duck hunting from a work friend and his dad They hunted the Susquehanna River and they own a sneak boat Their rule was to only shot drakes It never seemed to hurt their chances at getting a limit They both shot Winchester Model 12 's and at the time lead shot was still legal And many of the decoys they used where hand carved by the father and grand father of the friend that I worked with. It was great times to just listen to them talk about the many days that they spent hunting ducks the way it was back in 30' s 40's and 50's

Interesting to hear different perspectives from across the country, I didn’t realize that they weren’t more widespread in the east. I figured they were everywhere kinda like Blue-wings.

In the east quite a few of the Common teal are mistaken for GWT
only in the upper barrens ground are they absent, but last year the snow goose banders did report them from Iqaluit probably because of the drought on the prairies

I didn’t realize there were other species of Green-wings, but I see they used to call the European bird the Common Teal or European Green-wing. Only difference is a small white stripe on back.
According to Ebird they are now combined into 1 species.

Interesting you saw them Aleutians. Supposed to be a separate race from the rest of North American gw's. Drakes on Aleutians are supposed to have a horizontal white body strip (over the folded wing) as opposed to the vertical one on the regular teals (ahead of the folded wing).

Yes Stewie first duck I ever killed too. Start of a long career at it. Top notch table birds when fat.

The AOU does not go with that combining based on several factors, but as in all tax- there are lumpers and splitters, but just carry on. My life list is not going up or down one tick .

Green wings are so much tougher than blue-wings. The only full color GWT drake I've shot was towards the end of duck season when I jumped some mallards and this GWT was tagging along with them. I had a older college friend do his gonzo taxidermy on it for $15 (mid 1980s) and I had that mount for probably pushing 30 years before its head basically broke off (he didn't push the wire through the top of the skull, maybe too tough to hide on a small duck.) My friend, who died way too young, taught me some gonzo style. I think I mounted this mallard in 1988, its not perfect but it works for me on my office wall.




Tary- Do you ever sell any of your photos? Because you certainly could

Northof50 … That’s interesting, is the white strip on the back the only difference? I had never noticed that before. Looks like it’s mostly the Aleutian chain where they would be seen but I could see the west coast getting some during migration. Don’t think much chance in the middle of the country.

I’ve definitely seen worse mounts, not bad for a first.

I have sold a few prints, but haven’t gotten serious about it.

You should!!