Source and Additional Information

Animal Diversity Web
 
Maya Cadwell
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Cinnamon Teal are usually found in small flocks, comprising pairs of birds. During the spring migration the flocks increase in size, containing up to twenty birds. Migration in the spring occurs during March and April. Cinnamon Teal spend winters in the southwest U.S. and also in Mexico and South America. During breeding and migration the birds are usually observed in pairs or in groups of up to 20 ducks. Other species which they are found near include the Blue-winged Teal, Green-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, and Gadwall in North America, and Red Shoveler and Speckled Teal in South America. They tend to be the subordinate species during encounters.

Although the birds are basically aquatic animals, they are mobile on land and are able to walk or run around loafing areas on land. They are very agile in flight. The birds make sudden and sharp turns while flying low, and they take off to flight directly from water.

Cinnamon Teal preen both both on land and in water. They tend to preen more during the middle of the day than the morning or the evening.

Pairs tend to sleep or rest within one meter of one another, and the males often remain alert while the female sleeps. The sleeping sites are water or dry areas near the water, and resting time tends to be midday more than morning or evening. Generally, from the spring arrival to the incubation period the day is spent sleeping and loafing, with time also spent preening, swimming, walking, or flying.

Females consume more food than males, and males spend more time alert and involved in inter-and intra species interactions.

Until the third week of incubation, males make aggressive displays in order to protect their mates and desired waiting sites. Only the males are territorial. Dominance heirarchies are as follows: Paired birds dominate unpaired birds, and males dominate over females except during brood-rearing. (Gammonley, 1996)