What is the preferred habitat for teal?

What kind of habitat do teal prefer (in the Pineywoods of ETX)? Im new to duck hunting and in need some advice. I dont want anyone spots or specifics just some tips. Big lakes? river bottoms in the timber?

Shallow flats on big lakes.

Good advice

Thanks, I know exactly where I’m going then. 😁

O

Teal love their feet in the mud.

Thanks for the tip!

Went out yesterday afternoon and killed my first cinnamon teal in a shallow flat right off a creek of a big lake 😄

In the "Pineywoods ETX"???

Probably a bwt

It can happen...… I actually know a guy who shot all three species the last day of teal season about 10 years ago. None of them were mount worth but it was still a cool shoot.

No its definitely a cinnamon

yeah i wondered if thats really what it was and did a lot of research on the identification to be sure. I would post a picture but ive already taken it somewhere to be mounted. Im stoked

Yessir we get some but most of what i saw was BWT

So, you are new to duck hunting, ask where teal like to be and after 1 hunt you are an expert at identifying teal? Distinguishing between bluewing and cinnamon teal during eclipse plumage is next to impossible without DNA sample.

What were the identifying traits you saw that makes you certain it's a cinnamon?

OR

Maybe you are a troll?

im a rookie at the actual hunting of ducks but its been in my family for generations.. ive been around it my entire life just didnt do it. Mainly a turkey / deer hunter. And thats not my first hunt by any means just my first to find the actual spot lol.

hence the name of my post: What is the preferred habitat for teal?[u][/u]

Took many a limit on Toledo Bend, sitting on a floating log for a blind.
Oh, the good ol' days.

I used to fish on Toledo bend as a young kid ...good times. It’s got to be one of the stumpiest lakes I’ve ever been on 👀

Good deal, my man. Just curious as to how you determined it to be a cinnamon teal in eclipse plumage. What traits did you see to identify as a cinnamon? I may have been killing loads of cinnamon teal without realizing it!

Come to think of it we might have shot all cinnamon.

Well its eyes were red, the bill was black, the feet were all yellow, and it was a drake so it was that really cinnamon color on its breast, neck, and head. It had no white streak on its head, the eyes werent black, it had no green streak on its head, aaand not to mention it vocalized twice and it was not the sound of a BWT or GWT call

But perhaps im missing something here idk

Apparently this isn't very common or something in the central flyway from what ive gathered, regardless ill be sure to post the picture once its mounted. Who knows, maybe its not a cinnamon teal.

I shot a limit once of bull cinnamon teal...

None of those look like what i shot

Could very well be a cinnamon. I had a biologist tell me we get more cinny's this time of year, but can't tell most of the time,because they aren't plumed or colored out yet. Very rarely will you see ANY of the species of teal plumed out in Sept. You tell drake BWG's by the solid white stripe on their wings this time of year.

I remember my first coot....errr cinnamon teal

i could be wrong, but for sure posting a picture of it when i get it back. And its no coot because coots are black with a white bill.. this was rust colored with the tealish color on its wings but no light blue above that like i see in a lot pictures

This is the crap I was talking about in the migratory ot thread

One guy posts a pic of gadwall calling them cinnamon teal. Yes, 95% of hunters know what they are, but it's the 5%that don't that we actually need to be helping, not confusing.



And above is exactly why duck hunters are our own worst enemy.


Nobody wants to help new duck hunters it seems, just make fun of them for not knowing anything.

Luckily im not that dumb lol. I knew what it was or i wouldn't have shot it in the first place since its early teal season..not big duck season

Regardless im going to abandon this thread now yall until i get the bird back and prove how lucky i got

Damn, you shot a young woody drake....

nailed it.

I got lucky and popped one when I was 14. Had that thing mounted on the wing and it was hanging on the wall in my first apartment. It was a beautiful mount! My roommate hung some girl’s bra around it’s neck, and at a party we had, that girl came over and noticed her bra up there. She got all bent out of shape and ripped the damn thing right off the wall. Broke his friggin neck off. Man I was ticked.

Lonestar97,
I expected you to say you killed it somewhere farther west. Just to let you know the reason why they are questioning is because of cinnamon teal range. The pineywoods of east texas is either non included or right on the edge of the migrating range on most maps. It would be a rare bird in east texas. But anything is possible with migrating birds. Sea ducks have been known to show up on Texoma from time to time for example. With a red eye it would probably be an adult bird, but still it would be in eclipse and not look much different than any other teal if not in hand. For that reason most people would not get an early season teal mounted either. So don't be surprised when some hunters question it.

nah i killed it right here in ETX lol

You killed a wood duck dude.

Poor guy, I’d be mad too if someone killed a cinnamon in an uncommon place but I didn’t 🥺

My birdwatching buddies see birds in places they're not supposed to be. I've seen Black Vultures in N. Kansas.

If you said you shot an Emperor Penguin I'd be skeptical. A Cinnamon Teal, nah.

Post a picture of it ole son!

Ive been hunting along damn time and still have yet to see a Cinnamon killed. Id love one on the wall though. Beautiful birds!

I think I’ve said multiple times I will be posting a picture when I get it back from the taxidermist

Reminds me of another thread that popped up yesterday on another board - dude posted he shot an albino teal and people called him out for shooting a spoonie. Took the pic down while everyone blasted him. Reposted a couple of hours later stating he confirmed with GW that it was in fact an albino BW teal. I'm no biologist or expert so not commenting either way on the pic below. I'm not saying Lonestar is right but maybe is. I guess we'll find out when he posts his pics.

I need another angle, but that bill sure does look spoonie to me

Moral of the story. People with forearm tats really aren't smart.

A lot of folks are saying the same thing and just because the GW said it was a teal doesn't make it one either. As long as the GW said he was good to go, I guess that's all that matters now. Can't give him CPR. All I know is I wouldn't have posted that on a forum in the first place without being dang sure I knew what it was.

Lots of pictures of known albinos online. The bird that man with all the calls is holding looks too big to be a teal, but his arm is outstretched closer to the camera to show his tattoo. The feet on that duck are awful big too. Look at how pointy and short the wings are in the teal picture below and the ones Greg is holding in his pic. Then look how long the wing feathers are on the one above and on the known albino shoveler pic. Teal are really tiny as far as ducks go. But pictures can be deceiving depending on the angle and distance, so I'm not going to call it either way.

Shoveler


Blue Wing Teal

Geez guys, is it impossible that he got a cinnamon teal? You could at least wait until he posts the pic.

If that description is not enough. Stick to deer hunting.

I guess we'll see when he gets it back from taxidermy. Never hunted deer in my life tho.