Green-winged Teal, female

Green-winged Teal female

And here's a photo of the female Green-winged Teal. Much more subtle colors than the male of yesterdays's blog post. Then again, she's the one who has to sit on the nest and incubate the eggs, so it's good if her colors help camoflage her.

Blue-winged Teal female

Female ducks are often a tricky ID challenge for birders, not for male ducks. It's not easly to tell a female Green-winged Teal from a female Blue-winged Teal, especially when you can't see the colors on their open wings. The Blue-winged Teal female has a white patch at the base of her bill, the female Green-winged Teal has white that is barely noticeable at the base of the bill. Also check out the beige mark right under, and at the side of, the tail on the female Green-winged Teal, a little noticed, but great clue to tell them apart.