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The Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca carolinensis) is North America’s smallest dabbling duck and taken by hunters second only to the Mallard. Click on photos for full sized images. Luckily for them, even though they nest on the ground, they usually breed far from human habitation, under heavy vegetative cover. It appears that most of the [...]

The more I learn about ducks, the more impressed I am with their blatant promiscuity. Mallards, of course, bring new meaning to the term dabbling duck, what with all those wild mallard hybrids and domestic cross-breeds running around. But apparently, all the Anas-species ducks are overly amorous or at least indiscriminate. Consider the teals. Teal [...]

The taxonomic practice of speciation must be more art than science. After all, there are at least six distinct and recognizable populations of Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) yet different species of scaup or Empidonax flycatcher are practically indistinguishable without resorting to DNA testing. Most higher animals are separated biologically, by the likelihood of gene flow [...]