Green-winged Teal

29 March 2021 found Erika and me standing on the Nisqually national wildlife refuge estuary boardwalk. A different bird call waffled through the air. The only bird in the immediate vicinity was this drake Green-winged Teal. Closer observation revealed that the duck’s bill opened and closed as the bird vocalized. These days I usually carry a microphone with me, but, not wanting to fumble around, I aimed my iPhone at the duck and recorded the call with BirdNet—the Cornell app that does a decent job of recording and also attempts to identify the call. I was relieved to read that this call was labled “Green-winged Teal.” I am slowly building a collection of bird calls.