| Cinnamon teal | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Male | |
 | |
| Female | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Anseriformes |
| Family: | Anatidae |
| Genus: | Spatula |
| Species: | S. cyanoptera |
| Binomial name | |
| Spatula cyanoptera (Vieillot, 1816) | |
| Subspecies | |
4 living, 1 possibly extinct; see text | |
 | |
Breeding Migration Year-round Nonbreeding | |
| Synonyms | |
Anas cyanopteraVieillot, 1816 | |
| Songs and calls |
Thecinnamon teal (Spatula cyanoptera) is aspecies ofduck found in westernNorth andSouth America. It is a smalldabbling duck, with bright reddish plumage on the male and duller brown plumage on the female. It lives inmarshes andponds, and feeds mostly on plants.
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 femaleblue-winged teal; however, its overall color is richer, thelores, eye line, and eye ring are less distinct. Its bill is longer and more spatulate. Male juvenile resembles a female cinnamon or blue-winged teal but their eyes are red.[2][3] They are 16 in (41 cm) long, have a 22-inch (560 mm) wingspan, and weigh 14 oz (400 g).[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 westernUnited States and extreme southwesternCanada, and are rare visitors to the east coast of theUnited States.[3] One young male duck was spotted inGrimsby, Ontario, and became a tourist attraction due to its rarity outside of western Canada.[4] Cinnamon teal generally select new mates each year. They aremigratory and most winter in northern South America and theCaribbean,[5] generally not migrating as far as theblue-winged teal. Some winter inCalifornia and southwesternArizona.[2] Two subspecies of cinnamon teal reside within the Andes of South America. The smaller sizedS. c. cyanoptera is widespread within low elevations (<1000m) such as the coast of Peru and southern Argentina, whereas the larger size subspeciesS. c. orinomus occupies elevations of 3500–4600 meters in the central Andes.[6]
These birds feed by dabbling. They mainly eat plants; their diet may also includemolluscs and aquaticinsects.[7]
They are known to interbreed withblue-winged teals,[2] which are very close relatives.
Subspecies are:
