Anas carolinensis
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The green-winged teal (Anas carolinensis) or American teal is a common and widespread duck that breeds in the northern areas of North America except on the Aleutian Islands. It was considered conspecific with the Eurasian teal (A. crecca) for some time, but the two have since been split into separate species. The American Ornithological Society continues to debate this determination; however, nearly all other authorities consider it distinct based on behavioral, morphological, and molecular evidence. The scientific name is from Latin Anas, "duck" and carolinensis, "of Carolina".
This dabbling duck is strongly migratory and winters far south of its breeding range. It is highly gregarious outside of the breeding season and will form large flocks. In flight, the fast, twisting flocks resemble waders.
The green-winged teal was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the other ducks, geese and swans in the genus Anas and coined the binomial name Anas carolinensis. Gmelin based his description on the "American teal" that had been described in 1785 by... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anchorage | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Mesa | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | León | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 4 | Ciudad Juárez | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 5 | Vancouver | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 6 | Denver | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Portland | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | San Luis Potosí | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 9 | Seattle | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Green-winged Teal sighting in Big Bend National Park on a given day, based on 189 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 132nd most-seen of the 270 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January to March
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Green-winged Teal in Big Bend National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April to December, the lowest months. Those are among Big Bend National Park's driest months, with about 10 mm of rain a month against 50 mm in September.
Between 2 and 5 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Green-winged Teal sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
22nd of 41
Of the 41 parks where we can rate Green-winged Teal sightings, Big Bend National Park ranks 22nd at under 5%. The best odds are in Elk Island National Park (Canada, about 40%), Wrangell-St. Elias National Park (United States, about 30%) and Katmai National Park (United States, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Green-winged Teal is recorded against all the birds logged in Big Bend National Park (189 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
