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Ringed Teal | Callonetta leucophrys
Ringtaling | Pato de collar | Marreca-de-coleira
The Ringed Teal is a small duck of wooded swamps and pools in the lowlands of southern South America. It often perches on branches above the water and nests in tree holes. In the guide area it occurs only in eastern Bolivia.
Voice
The male gives a soft, drawn-out whistled wheeoo; the female a quick series of short, harsh quacks.
Recording: Franco Vushurovich — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
35–38 cm, small and compact, with a short, blue-grey bill and pink legs. The male has a pale grey face, a black stripe from the crown down the hindneck that continues forward as a half-collar, a pink breast with black spots, finely vermiculated grey flanks and a chestnut back. The female is brown, with a striking head pattern: a white supercilium, a white cheek patch crossed by a dark stripe and a white throat; the underparts are barred. In flight both sexes show a white patch on the upperwing and a green speculum.
Confusion species
Brazilian Teal Amazonetta brasiliensis is larger and browner, without collar or face pattern, and has a white speculum at the rear of the wing. Silver Teal Spatula versicolor has a dark cap, creamy cheeks and a blue bill with a yellow base. Yellow-billed Teal Anas flavirostris has a yellow bill and brown-spotted plumage. The female Masked Duck Nomonyx dominicus also has two dark stripes across a pale head, but has a stiff, often cocked tail and dives frequently.
Habitat
Pools, swamps and slow streams in or near woodland in the lowlands, such as gallery forest, Chaco woodland and swampy savanna with trees, mostly below 500 m. It eats seeds, aquatic plants and small invertebrates, dabbling and feeding along the shore. It nests in tree holes and also in old nests of Monk Parakeets or ovenbirds.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Bolivia in the eastern lowlands, from southern Beni through Santa Cruz into the Chaco. Absent from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in Paraguay, northern Argentina, Uruguay and southern and south-western Brazil. Widely kept in captivity; escaped birds can turn up elsewhere.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search the wooded edges of pools and swamps in eastern Bolivia, especially in the Chaco and around Santa Cruz. Also check branches above the water, where pairs often rest.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The population appears stable; locally sensitive to deforestation and the draining of wetlands.
Scientific name
Callonetta leucophrys | (Vieillot, 1816)
Vieillot described the species in 1816 as Anas leucophrys; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Callonetta was introduced in 1936 by Delacour. The genus name is from Greek kallos, 'beauty', and netta, 'duck'. From Greek leukos, 'white', and ophrus, 'eyebrow', so 'white-browed'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Paraguay.