Chestnut Teal, Travis Wetlands

[Michael Szabo]

Here are two photos of the female with the drake taken on Tuesday afternoon.

[sav]

Thanks Michael,

I think someone needs to tell me why that is NOT a female Chestnut Teal............

cheers

[NoahF]

The default assumption depends what is more likely: two Chestnut teals occurring in Travis simultaneously or a Chestnut teal mating/paired with a Grey teal. Comparing this particular female with other Grey teal on site may be useful, as Grey teal's weigh less (590g vs 470g) according to NZBirdsOnline.

[Adam C]

Few more here from the other evening although not showing anything to prove the female is anything but a grey teal. Mind you I think these are just random birds. Certainly the first shot. Second 2 images with the shoveler he seemed pretty cuddly with.

[Adam C]

Even though the female looks dark on the face here and pretty good, here's 2 of Jacks photos showing the same gang when a Harrier flew overhead. Suddenly she just becomes a grey teal (if this is the same bird he was seen with the evening before)

[Oscar Thomas]

I think trying to ID a female chestnut teal (outside of it being within its natural range and clearly associating with a male) is like trying to play that memory card game, except when you flip the cards over they all have the same picture on them.
Both teal species seem to show enough variation to make IDs outside of this circumstance problematic, only made worse by how feathers appear in different light conditions. Looking at Adam’s first photo for example, the female to the left of the chestnut has very little dark feathering below the face, but on the other hand, the female to the right of it does. I often get caught out by birds like this and wonder, could it be, but then when comparing to all the other teal around it, it doesn’t stand out in the slightest.

There are some photos of female chestnut teal online that look like they’d be a piece of cake to spot amongst grey teal, such as these ones. Almost chocolatety brown, darker face and throat with heavy flecking and chestnut tinged feathering:

Female_Chestnut_Teal_duck.jpg (516.07 KiB) Viewed 1236 times

Then you see things like this, almost certainly a grey teal, and question everything:

download.jpg (8.7 KiB) Viewed 1236 times

Or these. Do they look like grey teal? They probably are. Shows the Aussies have trouble with ID too when there aren't males nearby. But who knows how many hybrid pairings form over there too:
https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/185670621
https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/398724761
https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/313160261

Sean's photo from Tip Lagoon a few years back is the only useful comparison I could find with a female chestnut and a grey: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=7968&p=38039

[FraserGurney]

The chestnut teal is here again this morning, roosting in the same place as it was a couple of days ago. Viewed from the concrete bridge 100m in from the entrance.

[Michael Szabo]

Here's two more shots showing the female bird's throat taken by Greg McKenzie.

[Ian Southey]

I agree that it's hard but surely we do get about as many females as males and there seem to be a few around now. With the photos so variable perhaps the best way forward is to go, watch ducks and compare this female with known (?) grey teal in different lights and at different angles and see if you can reliably sort her out of the flock.

Ian

[Michael Szabo]

Two more shots posted to Facebook, taken yesterday by Nadine Campbell.
Nikolas Haas posted the following comment on Facebook today:
"female looks like Chestnut Teal too - unless there are light artefacts causing the bird look reddish and the throat not white."