Anas cyanoptera

Unlike most North American dabbling ducks, the cinnamon teal rarely breeds in the midcontinent prairie-parkland region. Utah is home to 60 percent of the Continental U.S. population of cinnamon teal during the breeding and nesting season.

They are one of the early migrating ducks, spending winters in Mexico and along the California coast and Gulf States coastal areas. Although there is a waterfowl season when teal can be taken, they are usually gone before the season opens in Utah.

The male cinnamon teal is unmistakable, with its rich deep cinnamon plumage. In flight, the male displays a large blue wing patch and a metallic green speculum with a white border. Females are brown overall. Teal are small, measuring 14-17 inches with a wing span of 24-30 inches. They weigh a mere 14 ounces.

Cinnamon teal make their homes in Utah's wetland marshes. They eat a variety of insects and aquatic plant seeds, particularly from the sego and bulrush. They are a dabbler and can take off by jumping straight up out of the water.

They are monogamous and raise one brood a year. Females will lay their clutch of 9-12 pinkish buff or white eggs 100 feet or more from water. The female cinnamon teal often places her nest below matted, dead stems of vegetation so it is completely concealed on all sides and from above. She approaches the nest through tunnels in the vegetation.

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* BILL FENIMORE is owner of the Layton Wild Bird Center, www.wildbird.com/layton.