Between the wind and work today, I didn’t see any new species that I wanted to write about, so I will write about a new bird I saw yesterday on my short excursion to the Laramie Plains Lakes west of town. This species, which I was calling ‘mystery red duck’ until I got to my bird field guides, was the cinnamon teal, Anas cyanoptera.
Like mallards, female cinnamon teals aren’t much more than brown. If I hadn’t seen the males, I would have assumed she was a mallard, even though she does have a longer bill (those kinds of distinctions are so difficult when the birds refuse to swim by in a helpful line-up). But the males! Such pretty–and aptly named–plumage, matching red eyes, and a little hint of blue on the wing. Very chic. [You may have to click on the following picture to enlarge it to see really the blue.]
Like mallards, these birds are considered dabbling ducks, which means they feed in shallow water, poking their heads underwater to eat. If the water is deep enough, this means total tippage, where all you can see is a duck tail pointed straight up in the air. Duck bottoms always make me laugh, but unfortunately the water was shallow enough that these birds only had to dip their heads in to feed. 
I guess I will just have to post a photo of a mallard duck bottom just for kicks. So, so far, cinnamon teals win for beauty, mallards for entertainment value. 
fizzynotions 
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