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Posts Tagged ‘Anas crecca’

Green-winged Teal in early March

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , on March 7, 2015| 4 Comments »

I haven’t seen one for a while, so I was happy this morning when I spotted this male Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca) at Huntley Meadows Park, the local marshland park where I take many of my wildlife photos.

Green-winged Teal

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Alone in a crowd

Posted in Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , on February 11, 2014| 8 Comments »

As I was observing some mallard ducks paddling around the shallow waters of a former beaver pond yesterday, I noticed one much smaller duck in their midst that looked out of place—it was a male Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca). The little duck was acting just like the mallards, foraging for food in the water and occasionally on land as well. Had the Green-winged Teal been adopted by this group of mallards or was he merely lost and separated from his own group?

I couldn’t help but notice that most of the mallards were paired off, but the Green-winged Teal seemed to be all alone. He’s going to have to act quickly if he wants to find a sweetheart before Valentine’s Day later this week.

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© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Green-winged Teals in flight

Posted in Art, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , on November 16, 2013| 6 Comments »

Green-winged Teals (Anas crecca) are very small ducks and they are really skittish, but I managed to capture a photo of these three (and a mallard) yesterday shortly after they took off from the water. When they are in the water, you get only the slightest hint of the green on the wings (see my post from last year to see one Green-winged Teals at rest), but when they are flying, it’s easy to see why the got their name.

I went back and forth in my mind about whether or not to crop out the female mallard. Most people are familiar with mallards, so they can see how small the teals are by comparing them in the photo to the mallard. In addition, I like contrast between the green in wings of the teals and the blue in the wings of the mallard. However, the mallard is a bit far away from the three teals and there is nothing of visual interest in the center area of the photo. So I cropped a bit more and created the second image that eliminates the mallard.

Which version of the image works best for you?

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© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Green-winged Teal

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on November 30, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca) are the smallest of the North American ducks, according to duck.org (yes, that’s really the website), but I find them to be exceptionally beautiful. Their diminutive size and their predilection for congregating at the far reaches of the little pond where I have been photographing ducks have combined to make it really challenging to get good images of them.

Green-winged Teals are dabbling (rather than diving) ducks and they prefer shallow ponds to open water, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. As the weather has gotten colder, they may have migrated out of my area now, so I am posting some of the best shots I have of them. I had been holding off, hoping I might get some better photos. The photos at least give you an idea of the duck’s overall  appearance and the first photo shows you the green feathers responsible for the its name.

Male Green-winged Teal swimming

Male Green-winged Teal swimming

Green-winged Teal with bushes

Green-winged Teal with bushes

Pair of male Green-winged Teals

Pair of male Green-winged Teals

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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