Cinnamon Teal

Description: Cinnamon teal take their name from the distinctive color of the drakes, which are a deep cinnamon with light blue shoulders, green speculums, black bills, and orange legs and feet. Hens are brown with darker backs, blue shoulders, gray bills, and dull yellow legs and feet. Drakes are slightly larger. Average size: 14-17 inches. Average weight: ½-1 pound.

Science: Most cinnamon teal breed in Utah near the Great Salt Lake, though their breeding range also includes most of the western United States and extends into Mexico and Canada. They breed around marshes, freshwater areas, and emergent vegetation. They are early migrants, departing their breeding areas in late August and wintering on marshes and lakes in Mexico, Central and South America, and the southern United States. They may be occasionally found around high-altitude lakes and coastal marshes. Cinnamon teal eat the seeds of moist soil plants. While they prefer bulrushes and saltgrass, they also eat the leaves and seeds of pondweeds and occasionally mollusks and invertebrates. They travel in very small flocks of ten to thirty birds. The population is stable.

Hunting: Cinnamon teal are mostly taken incidentally by hunters pursuing other ducks, though specific calls and decoys exist. The call is a soft quack and various clucking sounds. The meat is excellent: mild and tender.