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Australian Wildlife

  Chestnut Teal (Anas castanea)





Chestnut Teal | Anas castanea photo
Chestnut Teal male

Photograph copyright: Nickolay Tilcheff - all rights reserved. Used with permission.

Chestnut Teal | Anas castanea photo
Chestnut Teal male

Photograph copyright: Nickolay Tilcheff - all rights reserved. Used with permission.







CHESTNUT TEAL FACTS

Description
The Chestnut Teal is a small duck. The male has brown back, rich chestnut coloured chest and sides with dark tail and white patch on the rear (the white patch is in front of the tail at the "water line" when it swims). The head is dark green. Females are brown with scalloped pattern. The bill is grey in both sexes. The female Chestnut Teal is very similar to the Grey Teal, but is darker.

Size
40cm - 45cm

Habitat
found in wetlands, estuaries, lakes

Food
eats insects, aquatic invertebrates, crustaceans, seeds and plants

Breeding
nest is usually in a tree hollow, but may be amongst grass or reeds. It lays seven to ten cream coloured eggs.

Range
The Chestnut Teal is found in south east Australia from central Queensland coast down through New South Wales, Victoria to south east of South Australia. Also found in Tasmania and south west Western Australia.

distribution map showing range of Anas castanea in Australia

Credits:
Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.



Classification
Class:Aves
Order:Anseriformes
Family:Anatidae
Genus:Anas
Species:castanea
Common Name:Chestnut Teal

Relatives in same Genus
  Northern Pintail (A. acuta)
  Northern Shoveler (A. clypeata)
  Grey Teal (A. gracilis)
  Mallard (A. platyrhynchos)
  Garganey (A. querquedula)
  Australasian Shoveler (A. rhynchotis)
  Pacific Black Duck (A. superciliosa)