Chestnut teal

Chestnut teal(Anas castanea)

Phylum —chordata
Class — aves
Order — anseriformes
Family — anatidae

Genus –anas

Appearance

The chestnut teal is a medium size bird (length - 38 to 45 centimeters). Breeding males have a dark green head which is iridescent in sunlight; rich speckled chestnut collar, breast and under parts; brown back, white flank patch, grey-green legs, black tail. Normal shaped bill is short and blue-grey. Females and non-breeding males are dark brown above; each feather, except rump and tail is edged light brown. Crown is dark brown; face fawn. Throat and underside generally pale brown with a dark center on each feather.In flight shows narrow white bars on the upper wing and white patch on the underwing.

Habitat

The chestnut teal is found in south-western and south-eastern Australia. In the east, it is found from Rockhampton, Queensland to Ceduna, South Australia, being most common in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. It is also a vagrant to New Guinea and Lord Howe Island.

Behavior

Chestnut tealsrarely gather in large flocks containing hundreds of birds; most non-breeding flocks contain 10 to 20 birds cruising and feeding in surface water or resting on mud banks.

Chestnut teal - isa mostly sedentary species which moves locally in response to changed water conditions and food supply; but juvenile birds have been recorded as moving at least 500 kilometers. Chestnut teals gather in flocks on larger lakes and estuaries in winter and autumn, dispersing in spring to breed.

Diet

Diet in salt water habitats is mainly widgeon grass, sedge seed, mollusks and crustaceans and a few insects and worms. Feeds mostly at dusk and dawn.

Reproduction

Breeding takes place from July to January along the Victorian/South Australian coast. Males first gather in small groups to whistle and mill about to attract a mate. After a bond has been established the pair look for a nest site along the edge of brackish to fresh coastal swamps and estuaries. The nest is close to water and may be a scrape in the ground, in long grass, in rushes, in crevices in rocks or holes in trees; often on a small island. Usually seven to ten eggs are laid; close-grained and smooth; cream, elliptical, 52 by 37 millimeters.

Eggs are incubated by the female for 27 days unaided by the drake who remains nearby. Both parents feed the young which leave the nest after a day but are cared for by the parents until they can fly. Full adult plumage is gained after several moults over a year.

In captivity

Lifespan in captivity is up to 30 years.

In summer, teals are kept in outdoor enclosures. The minimum size of the enclosure is 4 square meters: one meter fora bird.

In winter, chestnut tealsshould be transferred to an insulated enclosure with a temperature of at least +15°C.It is desirable to equip the enclosure with additives in the form of branches and perches.In the winter room, you must install a pool with running or frequently replaced water.

As a winter bedding for waterfowl, you can use soft hay, which is laid out in places where birds rest.

The diet includes a mixture of plant and animal feeds. From vegetable feeds give: grain feed-corn, wheat, barley, millet, oatmeal, wheat bran, grass. To these feeds you should add meat and fish meal, chalk, small shell, gammarus. In the warm season, it is good to give various greens - cut dandelion leaves, lettuce, plantain, duckweed. Good food for ducks - wet mixture of grated carrots, bran, various cereals.Fish and minced meat is also suitable.During working out a diet it should be calculated that the amount of raw protein does not exceed 30%. During the nesting period, the content of protein food should be increased.

Chestnut teals are friendly to other birds, so they can be kept on the same pond with other ducks. In the breeding season, if the density of birds is high, it is better to isolate the pair from other birds.

Artificial shelters for nests are installed in the paddock. Ducks independently incubate, breed and raise young ducklings.