Anas crecca
Britain's smallest duck, with a striking green eye-patch.
Size: 34-38 cm | Habitat: Pond, Lake & River Birds | Season: Mostly winter (Oct-Mar), a few breed
Dainty and fast-flying, the male teal is grey with a chestnut head marked by a curving green eye-patch edged in cream. Females are mottled brown and easily confused with other small ducks, best told by their small size and fast, twisting flight.
Male: chestnut head, green eye-patch, grey body, cream-edged tail · Female: mottled brown, small and compact · green wing-patch (speculum) on both
Teal gather in tight, fast-flying flocks and dabble in shallow water and mud for seeds and invertebrates. Numbers on UK ponds and wetlands swell considerably in winter as birds arrive from northern Europe.
Teal can spring almost vertically out of the water into flight without a running start, useful for a quick escape from predators.
The Teal (Anas crecca) is the smallest duck breeding in the UK, with males showing a chestnut head marked by a curved, cream-edged green eye-patch, and females a neat, well-camouflaged mottled brown.
Teal are dabbling ducks, feeding by sieving seeds and small invertebrates from shallow water and mud with their bill, and are known for extremely fast, agile flight in tight flocks that twist and turn together almost like waders. British-breeding birds are joined every winter by huge numbers arriving from Iceland, Scandinavia, and Russia.
Understanding the teal shows how a small body size can be an advantage as well as a challenge, allowing access to shallow feeding areas too small for larger ducks, while demanding a fast, defensive flock strategy to avoid predators.
🟠 Conservation status: Amber (UK Birds of Conservation Concern 5)
Amber-listed. Although huge numbers of teal winter in the UK, the small breeding population is scattered and vulnerable to the loss and drainage of the damp, well-vegetated wetlands it needs to nest successfully. Protecting fen, bog, and wet grassland habitat is key to supporting the birds that do breed here.