Speckled Teal/ Sharp-winged Teal/ Yellow-billed Teal/ (Chilean Teal) Anas flavirostris oxyptera

Speckled Teal
Sharp-winged Teal
The Sharp-winged or Speckled Teal (also Yellow-billed or Chilean Teal, see below) normally lives at high altitude in the Andes.
Sharp-winged Teal
Speckled Teal
Male and female have similar plumage but the male is slightly darker and slightly larger. Their calls differ: the drake has a high-pitched whistle and the female has a quack.

There are several YELLOW-BILLED duck species.

  • The SPECKLED TEAL, above, also called the Yellow-billed Teal and the taxonomic name Anas flavirostris inhabits much of South America (including South Georgia).

  • It has 4 subspecies in different areas, including the CHILEAN TEAL (the nominate species Anas flavirostris flavirostris) from Brazil through to the Falklands (and South Georgia), and the SHARP-WINGED TEAL (Anas flavirostris oxyptera) featured here, which lives in Peru, Chile and Argentina.

  • The YELLOW-BILLED PINTAIL, Anas georgica, with nominate subspecies SOUTH GEORGIA PINTAIL, is also mistakenly sometimes referred to as the Yellow-billed Teal. It is larger than the Speckled Teal and also comes from South America, including the islands of South Georgia from which it is named.

  • The YELLOW-BILLED DUCK, Anas undulata, is a mallard-sized duck from south and east Africa. (The Mallard drake also has a yellow bill.)

  • The SPOT-BILLED DUCK or SPOTBILL, Anas poecilorhyncha, with its subspecies Indian (nominate), Chinese and Burmese, is native to Asia.

blue line