Cinnamon Teal

Spatula cyanoptera

Ebird describes the Cinnamon Teal like this:  Small duck with chalky-blue patches on the upperwing (visible in flight). Breeding males unmistakable with rich reddish-brown color overall. Females are buffy-brownish overall and intricately patterned. Look for rather plain face and longer, more spatulate-shaped bill than Blue-winged Teal. Widespread and fairly common throughout western North America and South America, as far south as Tierra del Fuego. Usually found in shallow wetlands or marshes, where it can occur in pairs or flocks, sometimes mixed with other species of ducks.  All About Birds adds this descriptive information for the Cinnamon Teal:  The male Cinnamon Teal shimmers with a rich ruddy plumage, made all the more incandescent by the summer sun slanting across reedy wetlands in interior western North America. Males molt this brilliant plumage soon after breeding, becoming much more similar to female and immature birds, and very similar to other teal species, especially Blue-winged Teal. Look for Cinnamon’s longer and wider bill to help tell them apart. An entirely separate population of Cinnamon Teal lives in South America.

I saw my first Cinnamon Teal at Corn Creek Station outside of Las Vegas, Nevada, on the morning of May 22, 2021.  The bird was in the pond behind the visitor center.  To see my blog that includes the trip that I saw this bird on, look here.