Description:

The smallest and shortest-billed teal. In flight, broad white band along greater coverts, and green speculum with narrow white trailing edge. Male has chestnut head with green band behind eye, white stripe along scapulars, and yellowish patch on undertail-coverts. Female has rather uniform head, lacking pale loral spot of female Garganey.

Distribution:

Common passage migrant through major waterways and lakes all across Gilgit-Baltistan. Landing in the region during cloudy/harsh weather, at lakes, marshes, rivers and streams with fringe vegetation up to 4500m, avoiding turbulent waters.

Behavior:

Feeds by dabbling, head dipping, upending and exceptionally diving in shallow water; also filters mud. Predominantly feeds at night. Mainly feeds on seeds of aquatic plants, grasses, sedge, grain, emergent and submerged macrophytes during winter months; many aquatic invertebrates (molluscs, worms, insects, crustaceans) in spring and summer.

Photo Gallery:

Range & Occurrence:

Resident Species

Summer Breeder

Winter Visitor

Passage Migrant

Distribution Map of Common Teal in Gilgit-Baltistan (Status: )

Seasonal Occurrence of Common Teal

Resources:

Birds of Pakistan: Helm Field Guides (R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
The Birds of Pakistan (T. J. Roberts)
Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (C. Inskipp, R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide (P. Rasmussen & J. Anderton)
Birds of India: Collins Field Guide (N. Arlott)
Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan (S. Ali & S. D. Ripley)
Handbook of the Birds of the World (https://www.hbw.com)
The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, 6th Edition
iNaturalist BoGB (inaturalist.org/projects/birds-of-gilgit-baltistan)
Birds of Gilgit-Baltistan (http://fb.me/birdsgb)

*Gallery images on this page are shared from flickr.com, and are copyrighted to their respective creators or owners.