Cinnamon Teal

Female Cinnamon TealThe Cinnamon Teal, Anas cyanoptera, is a small dabbling duck from the Americas,and its status is Least Concern[1].

The adult male has a cinnamon-red head and body with a brown back, a red eye and a dark bill. The adult female has a mottled brown body, a pale brown head, brown eyes and a grey bill and is very similar in appearance to a female Blue-winged Teal; however its overall color is richer, the lore spot, eye line, and eye ring are less distinct. It's bill is longer and more spatulate. Male juvenile resembles a female or a Blue-winged Teal but their eyes are red[2][3]. They are 16" long and have a 22" wingspan, and they weigh 14 oz[3]. They have 2 adult molts per year and a third molt in their first year[3].

Their breeding habitat is marshes and ponds in western United States and extreme southwestern Canada, and are rare visitors to the east coast of the United States[3]. Cinnamon Teal generally select new mates each year. They are migratory and most winter in northern South America and the Caribbean[4], generally not migrating as far as the Blue-winged Teal. Some winter in California and southwestern Arizona[2]. They are known to interbreed with Blue-winged Teals[2]. These birds feed by dabbling. They mainly eat plants; their diet may include molluscs and aquatic insects.

Subspecies are:

* Anas cyanoptera septentrionalium Northern Cinnamon Teal breeds from British Columbia to northwestern New Mexico, and they winter in northwestern South America[5].
* Anas cyanoptera tropica Tropical Cinnamon Teal occurs in the Cauca Valley and Magdalena Valley in Colombia[5].
* Anas cyanoptera borreroi Borrero's Cinnamon Teal (possibly extinct) occurs in the eastern Andes of Colombia.[5]
* Anas cyanoptera orinomus Andean Cinnamon Teal occurs in the Altiplano of Peru, northern Chile and Bolivia[5].
* Anas cyanoptera cyanoptera Argentine Cinnamon Teal occurs in southern Peru, southern Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and the Falkland Islands[5].