{"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_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"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":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/green-winged-teal-drake-mia-mcpherson-8587.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1PX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7051,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/01\/08\/female-duck-id-quiz\/","url_meta":{"origin":7065,"position":0},"title":"Female Duck ID Quiz","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I photographed this female duck yesterday morning at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area in northern Utah, she was on ice that was covered by frost flowers and was moving towards a group of males that were in open water.","rel":"","context":"In "Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area"","block_context":{"text":"Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/farmington-bay-wma\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Green-winged Teal hen in frost flowers that form on the ice when temps get extremely cold at Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, 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monitor that I saw that this duck was a hybrid, which turned out to be Cinnamon x Blue-winged Teal hybrid.\u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cinnamon x Blue-winged Teal Hybrid Duck, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/cinnamon-blue-winged-teal-hybrid-mia-mcpherson-2118.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/cinnamon-blue-winged-teal-hybrid-mia-mcpherson-2118.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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pair lifting off from Miner's Cove, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/blue-winged-teal-mates-lifting-off-mia-mcpherson-3198.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/blue-winged-teal-mates-lifting-off-mia-mcpherson-3198.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/blue-winged-teal-mates-lifting-off-mia-mcpherson-3198.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/blue-winged-teal-mates-lifting-off-mia-mcpherson-3198.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":75405,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/11\/18\/drake-green-winged-teal-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":7065,"position":3},"title":"Drake Green-winged Teal At Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 18, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning I was able to take close up photos of a drake Green-winged Teal paddling away from me at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Drake Green-winged Teal paddling by, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/green-winged-teal-drake-marsh-mia-mcpherson-4700.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/green-winged-teal-drake-marsh-mia-mcpherson-4700.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/green-winged-teal-drake-marsh-mia-mcpherson-4700.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/green-winged-teal-drake-marsh-mia-mcpherson-4700.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":142842,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/04\/12\/blue-winged-teal-drake-at-four-corners-slough\/","url_meta":{"origin":7065,"position":4},"title":"Blue-winged Teal Drake At Four Corners Slough","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 12, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning I'm sharing a few Blue-winged Teal drake photos that I took a couple of days ago at Four Corners Slough at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Blue-winged Teal drake close up, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/blue-winged-teal-drake-spring-mia-mcpherson-4192.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/blue-winged-teal-drake-spring-mia-mcpherson-4192.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/blue-winged-teal-drake-spring-mia-mcpherson-4192.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/blue-winged-teal-drake-spring-mia-mcpherson-4192.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":97768,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/11\/29\/remembering-higher-water-in-the-great-salt-lake\/","url_meta":{"origin":7065,"position":5},"title":"Remembering Higher Water In The Great Salt Lake","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I came across this photo of a Green-winged Teal with Northern Shovelers in the surf of the Great Salt Lake that I took in December of 2011 yesterday. It was a punch in the gut.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Green-winged Teal with Northern Shovelers in the surf of the Great Salt Lake, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/green-winged-teal-northern-shoveler-great-salt-lake-mia-mcpherson-3134.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/green-winged-teal-northern-shoveler-great-salt-lake-mia-mcpherson-3134.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/green-winged-teal-northern-shoveler-great-salt-lake-mia-mcpherson-3134.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/green-winged-teal-northern-shoveler-great-salt-lake-mia-mcpherson-3134.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}