Marbled Teal
The Marbled Teal is a medium-sized duck. It used to be included among the dabbling ducks but it is now classed as a diving duck. Adults are a pale sandy-brown colour, diffusely blotched off-white, with a dark eye-patch and shaggy head. Juveniles are similar but with more off-white blotches.
The Marbled Teal feeds mainly in shallow water by dabbling or up-ending and occasionally diving. Little is known of their diet.
The Marbled Teal formerly bred in large numbers in the Mediterranean region but it is now restricted to a few sites in southern Spain, north west Africa and in Israel. In the east it survives in the Mesopotamian marshland in southern Iraq and in Iran as well as isolated pockets in Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iraq and further to the east in western India and western China. Their breeding habitat is lowland marshes where they lay their eggs in long grass or in high trees.
The Marbled Teal is a gregarious bird, at times even when nesting. Outside the breeding season flocks are often small, although large wintering flocks have been reported in some areas. The largest winter concentration known is in Khuzestan, Iran. In 2011, a group of Iraqi ornithologists counted a single flock on the lakes of the Iraqi marshes, numbering at least 40,000 birds.
This bird was part of the captive collection at the WWT Wetland Centre.
Date: 7th March 2015
Location: WWT London Wetland Centre, Barnes, Greater London
The Marbled Teal feeds mainly in shallow water by dabbling or up-ending and occasionally diving. Little is known of their diet.
The Marbled Teal formerly bred in large numbers in the Mediterranean region but it is now restricted to a few sites in southern Spain, north west Africa and in Israel. In the east it survives in the Mesopotamian marshland in southern Iraq and in Iran as well as isolated pockets in Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iraq and further to the east in western India and western China. Their breeding habitat is lowland marshes where they lay their eggs in long grass or in high trees.
The Marbled Teal is a gregarious bird, at times even when nesting. Outside the breeding season flocks are often small, although large wintering flocks have been reported in some areas. The largest winter concentration known is in Khuzestan, Iran. In 2011, a group of Iraqi ornithologists counted a single flock on the lakes of the Iraqi marshes, numbering at least 40,000 birds.
This bird was part of the captive collection at the WWT Wetland Centre.
Date: 7th March 2015
Location: WWT London Wetland Centre, Barnes, Greater London
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Also in: Dabbling ducks
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