Greetings All

Scott is correct. Looking at a Wetlands International publication, Common
Teal in e. Siberia are listed as declining. Of course, our Common Teal could
be coming from the Aleutian population, but these birds are supposed to be
larger than GW Teal, something which I have not noted in our Washington
Common Teal. Also, the Aleutian Common Teals are non-migratory whereas their
Siberian comrades are migratory and should, therefore, be more prone to
wander astray.

Observer awareness is likely a factor in the apparent increase of Common Teal
in the Pacific NW, though the Pacific NW only averaged about 6 Common
Teal/year back in the old days when Common Teal was considered a separate
species. So maybe their has been a bit of an increased occurrence here.

Another mystery is the number of hybrids. I probably find one to two hybrids
for every three Common Teal I see. That is a pretty high ratio, especially
for two taxa that are not supposed to be conspecific.

There seems to be a spike in Common Teal reports during late winter and early
spring. This may be partly due to adult and 1st year males finally attaining
full breeding plumage (I haven't actually looked up the molt dates here) but
might also be due to northbound birds. Interestingly, Eur Wigeon numbers seem
to peak around the same time (and perhaps for the same reasons).

Anyway, searching for Common Teals is a nice way to spice up Feb and Mar
birding, which can otherwise be a bit slow. And maybe from our efforts, we
will learn something.

Cheers
Steven Mlodinow
SGMlod at aol.com
Everett WA
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