Features: In breeding plumage, green-winged drakes have a cinnamon-colored head with a green eye-stripe, gray back, flanks, and a bright patch of iridescent green on the rear of the wing (speculum). Hens are brown with a green speculum.

Habitat: Green-winged teal are primarily winter migrants in Oregon. They are puddle (dabbling) ducks that prefer shallow areas like ponds and marshes, where they feed on or near the surface of the water by tipping up.

Techniques: Teal are early migrants that begin arriving in Oregon in August but will continue to arrive into November. There are good early season hunts in coastal areas and Summer Lake, with hunting into the winter in western Oregon, the Columbia Basin and in the Ontario/Vale area.

Teal respond well to decoy spreads, and it’s not necessary to call. Although blowing a teal whistle can be a good activity for the kids hunting with you.

Green-winged teal can be fine eating.