A little more than 100 years ago, a notable Geelong bird man wrote: “There is still doubt whether there are two kinds of teal – chestnut-breasted and grey respectively – or only one with plumage which varies in colour with the age and sex of the individual.”
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
We now know there are indeed two species.
The male chestnut teal is easy enough to identify, but the male and female grey teals – which are identical to look at – and the female chestnut teal are very similar in appearance. One of the few places at which we can readily see the chestnut teal in the Ballarat district is the wetlands at Miners Rest’s Macarthur Park.
There, the chestnut teal can be found in small numbers through most of the year.
They were there with grey teals last weekend, enabling some comparisons.
While the female chestnut teal and the grey teal are very similar, the female chestnut teal is a slightly darker (browner) bird.
Her crown is brown with a blackish tinge, and her throat, although pale, is not as white as that of the grey teal.
With the chestnut teal being rather rare in the Ballarat region, why does the Macarthur Park wetland attract it more than any other local wetland? Perhaps it is the relatively shallow permanent water, which remains at 30-40cm deep for much of the year. About 15 chestnut teals were scattered in several different ponds of this wetland a week ago.
The chestnut teal is mostly a coastal and near-coastal bird in Victoria. It can usually be seen on coastal lagoons and estuaries on the Bellarine Peninsula, and also on the Moyne River at Port Fairy.
The Macarthur Park wetland at Miners Rest is an excellent spot for birds and bird observers.
As well as the chestnut teals, a handsome male Australasian shoveler was present last weekend, along with a cattle egret and several other waterbirds. Common bronzewing, red-browed finch and other bushbirds also occur there.
A month ago, some Ballarat naturalists saw a 100-strong flock of a scarcer duck – the plumed whistling duck. This was in the Stoneleigh area. A flock of 100 is much larger than the usual small group of up to about 20 birds.
FLATWEEDS REVIVE
With much-reduced rainfall since January, the weedy flatweed leaves shrivelled and all but disappeared due to lack of water. No flowers grew. The leaves grew within a few days of rain falling a few weeks ago, nourished by an underground taproot that can swell and re-activate when adequate moisture arrives.
