Trouble w/ duck ID
 

The places Ive hunted ducks, in the past,I have never seen any other species than greenheads, woodys and hoodys but the place Im hunting this year has tons of ducks, of many different species. Im haveing trouble IDing a particular little duck, that I think is a pintail hen, since it has similar markings to the picture in the DU gallery, speckled brown w/ green markings on wings and dark bill. The thing is, DU describes the PT hen as being around 21" in length, but these ducks look like there no more than 15" and dont have a pin shaped tail.I had them swimming 10yds from me today, and they were about half the size of a mallard hen. I also thought I might have IDed some PT drakes flying nearby too, but again they were much bigger in size than these little ducks. Any idea what these are?

They could be hen Pintails. The hens don't have the pin feather like the drakes. Could possibly be hen Widgeons. These two ducks are medium sized ones. They are not half the size of Mallard hens though. They are a little larger than half the size. Are you sure they aren't Green wing Teal? Probably one of these three. Take a picture of them and I'll tell you for sure. If the neck is long and slender, than it's a Pintail. Are they making any sounds? There should be drakes with them.

Agree with what is written above

picture sure would help

JW

Sorry I didnt have my camera w/ me, I dont like to bring anything that might drop in the water.

I was thinking they were teal, due to the size, but I didnt think there were any in NY, and I havent seen anything that looks like a GW teal drake. Even if there are some where Im hunting, there not included in the NY bag limit, so to av,oid an illegal kill, mabye Ill just stick to woodys, mallards and blackducks.

sounds like a widgeon

Why would you think Teal are not included in the bag limit? Trust me, if you see Teal, you can shoot them. I've never heard of a state that prohibits the taking of Teal. I looked at the waterfowl regulations in New York, and nowhere did it say Teal are prohibited.

could be green wing teals they are very tiny and very fast also

I dont have the09 regs booklet in front of me but I know the bag limit does not mention teal.

Edit- heres the link to the NY bag limits pg 3 on the right.http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_...egsguide09.pdf

It won't list ducks with no restrictions. If a duck is not specifically listed, you may kill the limit on that type of duck. I don't know what the daily limit is there, but down here and most of the country it's six. You can kill 6 of these species ( Gadwall, Shoveler, Widgeon, Ring necked, and all three Teal species). If you see Teal, blast them. To me, they are the tastiest of all ducks.

new york alows teal in the daily bag limit of 6 and it sounds like a hen green wing teal cause where i hunt in new york i seem them often in small openings along with woodys and the usal waterfowl birds
http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/28888.html

Thanks for the help guys ,I didnt know you could take ducks not listed in th regs. If others have seen teal in NY then Im almost positive they were teal based on the size,so I guess theyre on the hit list for oct 10th:rock:

It could be a wigeon you are describing.... the drakes do have a bit of a pintail-esque appearance to them.... when I was up and coming I often thought we had sprigs coming when we had wigeon (both are exciting anyway and both drakes in full plummage are true wall quality birds).

What I suspect you are seeing though is green wing teal.... to a new waterfowler... a wood duck in flight can often seem like a pintail... as the tail section is considerably longer and the wings set much farther forward than on other duck species. I remember thinking the same thing 15 years ago.... once you have seen some sprigs.... especially in a flock formation.... you'll be able to pick them out quick.... there really ain't no mistaking them..... and the noise they make is just awe-inspiring.

The reason also, that you haven't been seeing any green wing drakes is because they don't really look like drakes yet. The are still in eclipse plummage.... and while if you have one in hand or very close to you it isn't too tough to tell.... at a glance they all look the same.

Interesting, there was another slightly larger duck hanging around when they were that looked like a drake teal but w/ no markings ,just sort of a blackish color. What does their eclipse plumage look like, and when do they come into full plumage?

This is from the DU book.... I can't seem to find any decent pictures on google.... the drakes basically just look a lot like the hens do in the summer and very early fall. In the next few weeks, you'll start to see all the males brighten up with color.... some have already done so. Wood ducks (AKA summer ducks) already have fairly distinct color markings. mallards tend to get theirs pretty quick too.... and you'll already see some green on the heads.




Here is a decent size comparison between a mallard and a teal.

Thanks again. Ive already seen alot of woodys and greenhead drakes w/ bright markings.