Salvadori's Teal
Salvadorina waigiuensis
An unusual duck of alpine lakes and mountain streams. Very distinctive elongated shape with yellow bill, dark head, strong barring on the body and a pointy tail which is cocked when startled. In flight, it has a green panel in the wing bordered with white. It swims with a distinctive head-bobbing motion and feeds by dabbling and diving. It is a strong swimmer and can also do agile leaps onto rocks. Usually silent, but occasional gives a quack or series of “whip-whip-whip” notes.
Identification
Measuring 38–43 cm (15–17 in) in length, with a wingspan of 56–71 cm (22–28 in), and a mass of 342 g (12.1 oz), Salvadori's teal is a small duck. The sexes are similar in plumage, with males averaging slightly larger than females.
Taxonomy
When Walter Rothschild and Ernst Hartert first described Salvadori's teal in 1894, they placed it in the concurrently created monotypic genus Salvadorina. It has no subspecies. Initially, it was generally placed with South America's torrent duck and New Zealand's blue duck—two species of similar ecological niches—in a tribe called Merganettini. In the 1940s, Ernst Mayr moved the species to the dabbling duck genus Anas, based on several anatomical features. <p>The duck's common and genus names both commemorate 18th-century Italian ornithologist Tommaso Salvadori. The species name waigiuensis refers to Waigeo (also known as Waigiu), an island near New Guinea.
- Scientific name
- Salvadorina waigiuensis
- Authority
- Rothschild & Hartert, EJO, 1894
- Order
- Anseriformes
- Family
- Anatidae
- Genus
- Salvadorina
Range and habitat
Salvadori's teal is endemic to New Guinea; although the type specimen was reportedly collected on the Indonesian island of Waigeo, there is some doubt over the veracity of that claim, as the species is not now found there. Resident at elevations ranging from 500 to 4,000 m (1,600 to 13,100 ft), Salvadori's teal prefers swiftly flowing rivers and streams, though it is also occasionally found in stagnant lakes.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Salvadori's teal is an omnivore, and feeds by both dabbling and diving. It eats plants and insects, and possibly small fish.<p>It locates its nest near water, and lays two to four eggs in the dry season.
Conservation
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed Salvadori's teal as least concern. The total world population, currently estimated to be between 2,500 and 9,999 mature individuals, is thought to be declining at a moderate rate. Hunting, habitat degradation and predation by dogs are among the threats this species faces, and competition with introduced sport fish may also cause problems.
- Population trend
- unknown
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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