Bernier's Teal

Appearance

The plumage is predominantly warm brown. The bill is reddish, and the legs and feet are a dull reddish-orange. Part of the "grey teal" complex found throughout Australasia, it is most closely related to the Andaman teal.

This is a small duck, measuring 40 to 45 cm (16 to 18 in) in length, and ranging from 320 to 405 grams (11.3 to 14.3 oz) in mass. Males average slightly heavier than females.

Published measurements include mass about 380.

Range and habitat

Bernier's teal is endemic to the island of Madagascar, where it is found in mangrove forests. It rarely leaves this habitat, where it favors open shallow ponds and lakes, mostly brackish. Its range encompasses the whole of the west coast and the extreme north-east.

Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.

Breeding

In captivity, the species will also use nest boxes. The birds add no materials to the nest.

In crisis

Bernier's teal is on the verge of extinction. There are only about 1500 left in the world. The reason these ducks are on the verge of extinction is because their natural habitat, mangrove forests, are being destroyed for timber and fuel, and to expand cultivation.

Hunting for food is also a threat.

CITES lists this taxon on Appendix II. Confirm the current appendix on the CITES checklist.

Bernier's Teal is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.

Sources

Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Bernier's teal, Wikidata item Q290199. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.