Silver Teal

Fascinating facts about the Silver Teal

• From April through June the silver teal nests in dense reed beds, laying clutches of six to ten creamy-pink eggs that take 25 to 27 days to hatch.
• Both parents stay on the nest, feeding and protecting the hatchlings together, a teamwork strategy more often seen in swans and geese. Their shared care boosts duckling survival and highlights the importance of biparental cooperation in dabbling ducks.
• A pair can stay bonded for life, defending their territory and young with a quiet vigilance that belies their generally placid reputation. Long-term monogamy helps them guard limited nesting sites in the competitive South American wetlands.
• Their range stretches from southern Bolivia and Brazil to the remote Falkland Islands, and the southernmost birds migrate northward to southern Brazil each winter. This seasonal shift underscores how even small waterfowl track subtle climate cues across continents.
• Two subspecies split the continent: the northern silver teal (S. v. versicolor) inhabits Paraguay, southern Bolivia and Brazil, while the southern silver teal (S. v. fretensis) lives in Chile, Argentina and the Falklands. The division illustrates how geographic isolation can carve distinct lineages within a single species.

At a glance

About the Silver Teal

The silver teal (Spatula versicolor) glides across the fresh-water lagoons of southern South America with a striking black cap that drops below its eyes, a bluish bill tipped in bright yellow, and a flash of green on its speculum edged in crisp white. The female mirrors this palette but in softer tones, her beak bearing less yellow at the base. These dabbling ducks favor reed beds from April through June, where the pair lays clutches of six to ten creamy-pink eggs that incubate for 25 to 27 days. Both parents, much like swans and geese, share the demanding task of rearing the ducklings, often maintaining a long-term bond that anchors the family unit. In small, loosely organized groups they forage along the water’s edge, their diet dominated by seeds and tender aquatic plants, a vegetarian habit that belies their elegant, placid demeanor. A surprising trait surfaces when the birds defend their nests: despite their generally calm nature, silver teals can become fiercely protective of eggs, young, and females, displaying a vigor more typical of larger waterfowl. Their range stretches across southern Bolivia, southern Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, the remote South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, and the Falkland Islands, with the southernmost individuals migrating back to southern Brazil for the winter, a subtle seasonal shuffle that keeps the species intimately tied to the continent’s diverse wetlands.

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