Tiny, compact ducks, female green-winged teals may weigh only 6.6 ounces, making them the smallest of North American ducks.

They live near marshes and lakes around the northernmost parts of Canada all the way south to California and Arizona. The green-winged teal winters anywhere from southern Canada to northern Mexico, wherever it finds open water in marshes.

The green-winged teal react to flying predators by whistling loudly. If ashore, the teal may fly to water, where they regroup and swim in tight packs, or fly over the surface in close formation in roughly circular courses until the predators give up hunting.