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Common teal? Chennai, South India, Nov (1 Viewer)

GKSwamy

Well-known member
Are both the pictures the same bird; common teal?

Thanks
 

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The first looks like a Teal but the second is a Pintail.

Second is a Pintail indeed, but first is not a Common Teal. Face pattern, bill and speculum are all wrong.

Blue speculum is good for Mallard, but the overall impression is unusual, an hybrid of some sort or just a feral Mallard ?
 
Second is a Pintail indeed, but first is not a Common Teal. Face pattern, bill and speculum are all wrong.

Blue speculum is good for Mallard, but the overall impression is unusual, an hybrid of some sort or just a feral Mallard ?

Don't think the first bird has any Mallard in it, Proportions look all wrong + looks like a much smaller duck. I wonder if speculum colour is a trick of the light. Certainly looks a little odd but more Teal like to my eyes than any Mallard.

Agree on Pintail drake.
 
agree on common teal for the first: the triangular white medium bar (just above speculum) is typical for teals.

Thanks everyone for the inputs. I thought it might help to post some more pics. These are not of the same bird that we are discussing but were taken on the same day same place and look the same as well.

Thanks a lot.
 

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Don't think the first bird has any Mallard in it, Proportions look all wrong + looks like a much smaller duck. I wonder if speculum colour is a trick of the light. Certainly looks a little odd but more Teal like to my eyes than any Mallard.

Agree on Pintail drake.

Thanks. It could be a trick of the light. In the new pic attached, the bird number 3 has blue color in right wing but green color in the left wing. Can there really be of two different colors or is it the light?

Thanks
 
I guess OP bird is similar to your #5 on the pic above. I guess I've to admit it is a Common Teal although definitely with the strangest face pattern I've ever seen. Optical colours can be confusing.
 
Thanks. It could be a trick of the light. In the new pic attached, the bird number 3 has blue color in right wing but green color in the left wing. Can there really be of two different colors or is it the light?

Thanks

yes, in a certain angle the green speculum (but also the green stripe on the male's head) can look violet. and the males just are moulting into breeding plumage - maybe later than we are used to see them here in europe.
 
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