This week we'll be talking about teal. We have three kinds in Arkansas, the Blue-winged Teal and the Green-winged Teal, and the exceptionally rare (in Arkansas) Cinnamon Teal.

Green-winged Teal are the smallest of the teal, about half the size of a Mallard. Green-winged Teal emit short calls that sound like a toy wooden whistle along with occasional shrill quacking.

Look for green-winged teals in marshes and tidal estuaries such as Upper Newport Bay. Once winter sets in, the bay is also a good place to search for a rarely seen subspecies of green-winged teal.

Perhaps the most important thing to remember about fall teal hunting is that you're only allowed to harvest blue-winged, green-winged and cinnamon teal. All other waterfowl species are off-limits.

As usual, there were nuggets. The one that caught my eye this week was “green-winged teal loafing.” Click here for the listings of aerial surveys by the Illinois Natural History Survey.

Wonder how hard it is to identify ducks at 130 mph? Here’s a mix of blue- and green-winged teal and northern pintail observed from the air on Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge.

Green-winged teal are later migrators than the early-departing blue-winged cousins that kick off migration of waterfowl southward. Still, the surge in greenwing numbers is a good sign for hunters.

It was a good day for spotting dabbling ducks at the Exeter Wastewater Treatment Plant on Aug. 31.Eighteen blue-winged teal, a green-winged teal, an American golden-plover, a pectoral sandpiper ...

Quacks of the tiny teal are higher-pitched and among flocks the blue-winged will emit odd swirling whistles. Joe LaFleur studied wildlife biology and communications at Colorado State University.