Common Teal v Green Winged Teal

Capercaillie

Nightforce 65X55 wrote: »

Green Winged Teal 2 by Rod Wilson, on Flickr[/IMG]

Common teal. Green winged teal is very similar but has a vertical white stripe. This bird has a horizontal white stripe.

Nightforce 65X55

Just checked it again and this is identical to the Photo in the Collins Guide that says it is a Green Winged Teal , the other Teal is a Blue Winged teal and it has got a Vertical white stripe in its head in front of its eye. behind that its head is Blue. Here is a photo of the page from my phone....

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Yes, That's a Common Teal or Eurasian Teal. Note the vertical white line on the flank of the Green Winged.

Hotei

How can it be that I've not seen a Common Teal before now?! I need to get out more!

Capercaillie

Nightforce 65X55 wrote: »

Just checked it again and this is identical to the Photo in the Collins Guide that says it is a Green Winged Teal , the other Teal is a Blue Winged teal and it has got a Vertical white stripe in its head in front of its eye. behind that its head is Blue. Here is a photo of the page from my phone....

Your're probably on a page for North American vagrants. The Common (Eurasian) teal and the Green winged teal (north american teal) are similar looking species. Your bird doesn't have a vertical stripe. The horizontal stripe (partly covered in your photo) is directly above the horizontal black strip on the body.

Nightforce 65X55

Madilynn Future Multiplex wrote: »

Note the vertical white line on the flank of the Green Winged.

That is a reflection of the lights on the page , No White line on the actual Duck, look at the actual Photo...

Capercaillie

Nightforce 65X55 wrote: »

That is a reflection of the lights on the page , No White line on the actual Duck, look at the actual Photo...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green-winged_teal

Nightforce 65X55

As I said earlier , I have never seen one before so I have gone with the ID in the Published Collins Guide , The guide is of British Birds and there is no Mention of american visitors in the descriptions .

Capercaillie

Nightforce 65X55 wrote: »

As I said earlier , I have never seen one before so I have gone with the ID in the Published Collins Guide , The guide is of British Birds and there is no Mention of american visitors in the descriptions .

Fair enough, but you have a common teal.

Nightforce 65X55

Nightforce 65X55 wrote: »

That is a reflection of the lights on the page , No White line on the actual Duck, look at the actual Photo...

Apologies Sareem & Capercaillie , Now I see the Line , Capercaille posted a link. which shows it clearly . The collins guide is wrong....

OpenYourEyes

Here's a link discussing the differences between the two:

http://www.sibleyguides.com/2011/03/distinguishing-green-winged-and-common-teal/

And here's the main giveaway, side-by side, essentially what is the North American version of a Teal (Green Winged Teal) on the left with a vertical white stripe towards the front, and our common (Eurasian) Teal on the right with a horizontal white stripe that is sometimes obscured by other feathers:

Capercaillie

Nightforce 65X55 wrote: »

Apologies Sareem & Capercaillie , Now I see the Line , Capercaille posted a link. which shows it clearly . The collins guide is wrong....

Some people consider the green winged teal and common (eurasian) teal the same species. So occassionally people refer to our Common teal as green winged teal. Technically not incorrect.

OpenYourEyes

Capercaillie wrote: »

Some people consider the green winged teal and common (eurasian) teal the same species. So occassionally people refer to our Common teal as green winged teal. Technically not incorrect.

It's worth noting that the Irish Rare Birds Committee, the British Ornithologists Union and the American Ornithologists Union all consider them seperate species now though. To the best of my knowledge its only relatively recently they made their minds up on it, but they're the authorities when it comes to this kind of stuff. It's unanimous now.

Capercaillie

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

It's worth noting that the Irish Rare Birds Committee, the British Ornithologists Union and the American Ornithologists Union all consider them seperate species now though. To the best of my knowledge its only relatively recently they made their minds up on it, but they're the authorities when it comes to this kind of stuff. It's unanimous now.

Kumliens gull is a good example. It used to be considered a subspecies of Iceland gull (Thayers's/Iceland gull hybrid species), but now it has full species status.

OpenYourEyes

Capercaillie wrote: »

Kumliens gull is a good example. It used to be considered a subspecies of Iceland gull (Thayers's/Iceland gull hybrid species), but now it has full species status.

Northern Harrier has only recently been accepted by the BOU as it's own species too; previously thought to be a subspecies of Hen Harrier:

http://www.birdwatch.co.uk/channel/newsitem.asp?cate=__16182

(...so thats another one on my list )

DellyBelly

Capercaillie wrote: »

Kumliens gull is a good example. It used to be considered a subspecies of Iceland gull (Thayers's/Iceland gull hybrid species), but now it has full species status.

Don't think Kumlens is considered a full species only a subspecies of Iceland Gull...I could be wrong though.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

As far as I know the 'official' line is Kumlien's is a subspecies, although there is much debate on it.