Silver teal

Silver teal
A male in Brazil
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Anseriformes
Family: Anatidae
Subfamily: Anatinae
Genus: Anas
Species: A. versicolor
Binomial name
Anas versicolor
Vieillot, 1816
Subspecies
  • A. v. versicolor (Vieillot, 1816)
    (northern silver teal)
  • A. v. fretensis (King, 1831))
    (southern silver teal)

The silver teal or versicolor teal (Anas versicolor) is a species of dabbling duck in the genus Anas. It breeds in South America.

Between April and June they prefer reed beds and will lay 6 to 10 creamy-pink eggs. As with swans and geese, both parents will rear the ducklings. A pair may bond long term. It lives on fresh water in small groups, and feeds primarily on vegetable matter such as seeds and aquatic plants.

The silver teal's range includes southern Bolivia, southern Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, South Georgia, South Sandwich Islands,[1] and the Falkland Islands.[2] The southernmost birds migrate to southern Brazil in the winter.

Silver teals are on the whole placid ducks but may be protective of eggs, young and females.

They have a black cap that extends below the eyes, and a bluish bill with a yellow tip. They also have a green speculum with a white border.[3]

The Puna teal was previously regarded as a subspecies of this bird. Currently, there are two subspecies:

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 BirdLife International (2012). "Anas versicolor". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 Clements, J. (2007)
  3. ↑ ArthurGrosset.com

References


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/25/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.