{"id":7065,"date":"2013-01-10T04:48:33","date_gmt":"2013-01-10T11:48:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=7065"},"modified":"2025-09-12T14:24:50","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T19:24:50","slug":"the-id-of-the-female-duck-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/01\/10\/the-id-of-the-female-duck-is\/","title":{"rendered":"The ID Of The Female Duck Is…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two days ago I posted an image of a female duck taken at Farmington Bay Wildlife Management Area in Davis County, Utah\u00a0and a quiz about her ID here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Green-winged<\/p>\n

The answer to the ID quiz is a female Green-winged Teal<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

Out of 49 people taking the quiz there were 6 votes for Mallard, 8 votes for Blue-winged Teal, 9 votes for Gadwall and 26 votes for Green-winged Teal.<\/p>\n

Why I would rule out\u00a0a female Blue-winged Teal:<\/p>\n

A female Blue-winged Teal would have a dark\u00a0eye line with white arcs, a longer, dark\u00a0bill and yellowish legs, the female Green-winged will not have the white eye arcs, would have a smaller thinner bill and\u00a0grayish legs.<\/p>\n

Why I would rule out\u00a0a female Mallard:<\/p>\n

A female Mallard would have an orange bill with a dark center and\u00a0yellowish orange\u00a0legs, the female I posted has a black bill and grayish legs.<\/p>\n

Why I would rule out\u00a0a female Gadwall:<\/p>\n

A female Gadwall has yellow legs, a thin bill that is dark on the top and shows orange on the sides (males have a solid dark bill) and the face of a female Gadwall\u00a0is lighter in color plus they lack\u00a0having an eye line.\u00a0The female I showed has grayish legs, a solidly dark bill and does have an eye line.<\/p>\n

My friend Larry<\/span><\/a> said this in a comment on the quiz page:<\/p>\n

I love bird quizzes Mia and this is a tough one. I wouldn\u2019t want to give it away in a comment but when I first started birding and asked a more experienced birder how he could tell the female ducks apart he said, \u201cIt\u2019s easy! Just look at who she is hanging out with!\u201d<\/p>\n

The only male ducks my female was hanging out with were Green-winged Teal drakes, so looking at who she was hanging out with was a great help when I ID’d her too!<\/p>\n

\"Green-wingedGreen-winged Teal drake – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-4000mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The photo above shows a drake Green-winged Teal in breeding plumage taken on the same day just a few feet away from where the female was photographed.<\/p>\n

My thanks to everyone who participated and left your thoughts about the ID of the female duck in your comments. I had fun with this.<\/p>\n

Life is good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Green-winged Teal photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The answer to the ID quiz is a female Green-winged Teal! Out of 49 people taking the quiz there were 6 votes for Mallard, 8 votes for Blue-winged Teal, 9 votes for Gadwall and 26 votes for Green-winged Teal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":155578,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[163,697,1175,26],"tags":[4004,4534,215,164,4021,4083,3981,4483,4533,4294,4062,519,4035,4050,102,4032],"class_list":["post-7065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bird-identification","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-green-winged-teals","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-anas-crecca","tag-bird-id","tag-bird-identification-2","tag-bird-photography","tag-birding","tag-davis-county","tag-drake","tag-frost-flowers","tag-green-winged-teal","tag-male","tag-nature","tag-nature-photography","tag-snow","tag-wildlife","tag-wildlife-photography"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t