Backyard and Beyond

I couldn’t determine what this was from a distance, where it was dwarfed by a herd of Canada Geese.Even close by, I was running through the names of the ducks in a bird ID app.That moire pattern! The stripe! That head!Of course, “wigeon” and “gadwall,” among others, don’t come up if you type in “duck”…. Male Green Teal. Stunning in sunlight, more subdued in shadow…Anas carolinensis is common across its breeding grounds in northern North America, but I don’t recall ever seeing one in Green-Wood before. In fact, I don’t have a picture of one in the entire run of this blog. The bird was shy, swimming away even as Canada Geese and Mallards, also mucking along the shore, paid me no heed.