Marbled Teal - description, habitat, interesting facts

Marbled Teal is a compact interesting bird belonging to the Duck family. An elegant creation stands out favorably on the water surface, which attracts the attention of tourists and, unfortunately, hunters. That is why Russia has put a beautiful duck in the Red Book.

Appearance

Teal in size resembles other members of the family. It has a slightly elongated body (up to 450 mm) and a neck, an elongated beak. The wingspan reaches 600-700 mm (wing length up to 212 mm), and the weight of the bird barely exceeds half a kilo. The tail is wedge-shaped and slightly rounded at the end. The bird is folded gracefully.

Color teal unchanged during the year. Outwardly, it resembles an ordinary river duck, differing only in behavior, the principle of mating games, etc. The bird got its name due to a truly marble color - white (gray) mottled and patches that are common on the whole body stand out on a beige-gray basis.On teal wings, there are no mirrors characteristic of waterfowl ducks. There is a transverse pattern on the goiter. A brown (in males) and light (in females) spot spreads around the eyes and to the back of the head. The cheeks and throat of the bird are light gray. Belly and underwings have a whitish color. The paws of the marbled teal are also brown. The bill in males is gray in color, and in females it is more pigmented black. The eyes of the teals are also dark.
The plumage of young beige and more dim, mottled not stand out.

The elongated feathers in the form of a shortened tuft are also placed on the occipital zone of the males. In females and young animals such a "crown" is less noticeable.

The teal molt occurs twice a year, while the outline feathers are mostly updated. At the beginning of December, the feather cover was completely renewed, and by May the feathers on the goiter, shoulder blades and neck would be replaced again. In drakes, unlike other members of the Duck family, a bright attire is not formed during the mating season.

Behavior and lifestyle

Teals live mainly on stagnant ponds and fresh or salt lakes with dense vegetation (coastal shrubs and trees, reeds, reeds, etc.). Bird nests are built both on the ground and in hollows, alien nests, on trees. Representatives of the genus are often settled in small groups, and the distance between adjacent nests, as a rule, does not exceed a couple of meters.

The bird feeds on the inhabitants of shallow waters. Most often these are invertebrate organisms (crustaceans, insects, mollusks), sometimes small fish and fry fall. Also teal can feed on seeds and leaves of plants, local algae.

Breeding

During the mating season, individuals flock together on small ponds or lakes with a muddy bottom and densely overgrown vegetation. As a rule, mature couples are already arriving at the nesting site, therefore mating games and male dominance among members of the genus are not observed.

The nests of birds cover with thick grass or foliage located near the bush. The construction for earthen laying is not difficult - a shallow hole is prepared with a lining of dried grass and fluff. In the Volga River delta, teals also lay eggs in the already finished abandoned nests of crows.

As a rule, up to 8–12 eggs slightly expanded with a brown-red color are laid in the clutch. The female incubates them independently for an average of 25 days. The males of these birds, unlike other representatives, do not participate in the breeding and breeding of young stock. With grown offspring, birds form colonies and leave their nests, flying away to feed on ponds and lakes.

Habitat and conservation status

Marbled Teal is considered a sedentary species of waterfowl. Wintering flocks prefer in Pakestan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Azerbaijan, and not the north of the African continent.

Marbled Teal has chosen the reservoirs of the arid zone, which stretches from the Mediterranean coast to the Indus Valley and Central Asia. In Russia, birds are located in the Caspian region, as well as on the Volga River delta, the lower reaches of the Agrakhan Bay and the Terek River. The last nests, however, were found only in the 80s.Rare birds were possible north of the main breeding area. It is extremely rare for individuals to be seen flying through the Babayurt and Kizlyar regions of Dagestan.

The bird is endangered for many reasons. First of all, the natural habitat of representatives of the genus is poorer:

1. The area of ​​aridity of the territory is increasing.
2. Little snowy winters do not feed small ponds, lakes and marshy lowlands, which are usual for birds.
3. Water reservoirs overgrown with dense vegetation are less and less marked, where a shy bird can protect itself from predators and quietly nest.
4. As a result of economic activity, saline and freshwater lakes are being dried.

Also, the bird is often organized poaching hunting, and its eggs are collected uncontrollably during the nesting period. Often marble teal gets into the fishing nets, where it dies.

The teal of marble was entered into the International Red Book, as the number of individuals on the globe is less than 50,000.

Interesting! Earlier, these birds were identified to the genus of river ducks Anas, but later they identified representatives of the independent genus Marmarometta.