Cinnamon Teal Ducks

And another sign of spring

I have been talking about migration as one of the big signs of a change of seasons and Springtime. There are other signs of Spring. Those involve birds noticeably pairing up, displays of courtship rituals, and males protecting their mates from other males. Recently at Sweetwater I saw this played out between some Cinnamon Teals. I heard some noise and turned to see one Cinnamon Teal aggressively chasing another male Cinnamon Teal away from a nearby female Teal. The female watched calmly as this played out.

The chase continued for a short period as the one Cinnamon Teal moved quickly out of the area, followed closely by the other aggressive Teal which was still in attack mode. Look at the posture of each duck’s head and the different body position!

The less dominant and single male Cinnamon Teal paddled far enough away that the aggressive Teal turned around and returned to its mate. After breeding season, each males will molt out its rusty (cinnamon) colored plumage and becomes a plain brown color similar to the female's in the first image of this post. By mid-winter, the male Cinnamon Teals grow out their breeding plumage and become a dramatic rusty color. Their black bills and red eyes complete their look.

Once the Cinnamon Teal was left alone, it found a submerged log to climb on and it proceeded to preen.

Satisfied after preening, it ruffled its feathers and relaxed. I think it quickly got over that recent negative episode.

While Cinnamon Teal are fairly common in Southern Arizona during the winter, they are uncommon here during the summer. Cinnamon Teal do breed in Northern Arizona though as well as in most of the Western United States. Any day now those Cinnamon Teal are likely to leave Sweetwater and Tucson and head somewhere north, to their eventual breeding grounds.