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Grey Teal

(Anas gracilis)
Alternative names: "Wood Teal", "Slender Teal"
Aboriginal name: "buuway" [yuwaalaraay]
Size: 42-45 cm

Habitat
(for details refer to a field guide)

Grey Teals can be found basically anywhere on the Australian continent, including Tasmania, wherever there is surface water.

Grey Teals can be found in a variety of habitats, on fresh water and brackish water, i.e. lakes, floodplains, rivers and farm dams, but also estuaries. Although in principle also present in the arid centre, they will stay there only if/when there is reliable surface water, e.g. in permanent waterholes in rivers or on farm dams.

Sightings

Spotted by us for the first time in April of 2006, about 20 km west of Barraba, NSW. Later sighted regularly in various locations (dams, lakes rivers) in north-western NSW, including e.g. Narrabri Lake.

Seen also in temporary wetlands 20 km south of Walgett, NSW, in April 2009.

Subsequently hundreds, possibly as many as 1500, birds were spotted by us at Goran Lake, an ephemeral lake about 30 km south of Gunnedah, NSW, in the period April-September 2011.

Photos

Close view at the scalloped plumage of a Grey Teal

This one came even closer

Here a lateral view of a bird (probably a female) with its hackles raised, possibly indicating a posture in defense of its chicks

Lateral view of a pair of Grey Teals

Here a Grey Teal with conspicuously light plumage, possibly a juvenile moulting into its adult plumage

Grey Teal with four of its seven chicks

Close-up view of three Grey Teal chicks

Grey Teal family on a lake

Grey Teals sifting through shallow water

Grey Teal in flight (slightly blurred)

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Communal Mobility: Nomadic/dispersive Elementary unit: Pair/large flock

Like other duck species, Grey Teals are sociable birds that like to congregate in large numbers outside the breeding season.

Small section of a huge composite photo (49790x2650 pixels) of about 1500 resting Grey Teals at Goran Lake in June 2011 ; the original photo permits identification of basically every single bird and shows that the white spots visible in the background of the larger photo are Red-necked Avocets.

Part of the huge flock (above) resettling just 100 m further on

They are often seen together with other ducks, in particular Australian Wood Ducks, but also with Pink-eared Ducks.

Group photo of several species of water birds - a pair of Australian Wood Ducks (centre), Grey Teals (left and right) and Australasian Grebes (the two smaller birds)

Group photo of several species of water birds - a pair of Australian Wood Ducks (far left), a family of Grey Teals (centre) and a pair of Australasian Grebes (front)