# blue wing teal



## deadicated1 (Mar 17, 2008)

Deadicatedweim and i both bagged us a little drake blue wing on saturday morning. they landed in our blue wing decoys, textbook. we jumped em, let em clear all the dekes, and each dropped one. im not sure who painted my decoys, but im pretty sure the sample they used was not a bird taken in utah!! :mrgreen: i sure wish i could ever get one that looked like what Avery says they are supposed to look like!


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## pintail (Apr 20, 2008)

nice work facil!!!


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## wingmanck (Sep 7, 2007)

Are you sure those weren't cinnys? It's pretty freakin tough to tell them apart when they're hens or ecplise drakes. Can't tell from the pic if they have green speculums or not (drakes do, hens don't). If they are drakes, cinnys will have red eyes (not always bright during eclipse phase though). Good job! Cool birds regardless.


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## 12 Volt Man (Sep 7, 2007)

Looks like the one I shot the other day. Tex said it was a hen Cinny.


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## TEX-O-BOB (Sep 12, 2007)

And I'll say it again.. That is a hen Cinny.


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## Dave B (Oct 1, 2007)

Agreed, when you shoot one that resembles that decoy then I might be more convinced you have a blue wing.


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## Rabbit_slayer16 (Oct 18, 2007)

the bill looks like a blue wing.. to me anyways.


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## deadicated1 (Mar 17, 2008)

i still think its a blue wing. it had a green speculum, and like rabbitslayer said, the bill looked like a blue wing, not dark like a cinnamon. dave- if you go to south texas in february, you will still not kill one as pretty as that decoy. but oh well, if tex says hen cinny, maybe ill sleep on it. i have been wrong before...once


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## bugleboy (Sep 25, 2007)

To tell the difference between a Hen Cinnamon Teal and a Hen Bluewing Teal is almost impossible. 

MOST likely its a Hen Cinnamon Teal.


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## Ryfly (Sep 13, 2007)

bugleboy said:


> To tell the difference between a Hen Cinnamon Teal and a Hen Bluewing Teal is almost impossible.
> 
> MOST likely its a Hen Cinnamon Teal.


You just have to look at the bill. Cinny's are longer and more spoon shaped.


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## chuckler (Sep 30, 2007)

Definately a cinn hen...used to shoot a lot of cinnamon teal around Los Banos--definately a cinn. I've been suprised since I shot one on the opener and a buddy got one last weekend.


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

o-|| 


*-HELP!-*


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## 12 Volt Man (Sep 7, 2007)

OK, so maybe it was a Cinnamon/Blue Wing Hybrid :mrgreen: -/|\- (I've been wanting to use that chicken)


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## Longgun (Sep 7, 2007)

ahh, the "Is it a Hen Cinny or a BWT" debate...pops up just about every year.

o-||


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

I wasn't going to go here.... but.....

Shouldn't the bird have been identified before it was shot? I mean seriously... what is the world coming to when we can't identify our hens?

-Ov- -()/>- -BaHa!- -O|o- -/|\-


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## dkhntrdstn (Sep 7, 2007)

Longgun said:


> ahh, the "Is it a Hen Cinny or a BWT" debate...pops up just about every year.
> 
> o-||


this will come up every weekend intell they are gone and this come up every year to. It get old and yes they are hard to tell apart I have a hard time telling them apart inless i have all three in my boat and I look at the bills and then I can tell them apart. Give the guy a brake people. It not liek he shot a hen can or broke the law. it just a dam teal. By the way nice bird.


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## Longgun (Sep 7, 2007)

RR,

simple....dont shoot hens :wink: 

ah hell, we all know its a cross/hybred anyways.


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

Longgun said:


> RR,
> 
> simple....dont shoot hens :wink:
> 
> ah hell, we all know its a cross/hybred anyways.


 :shock: ... Man, I don't know... looks like I've got some work to do. :wink:



dkhntrdstn said:


> Give the guy a brake people. It not liek he shot a hen can or broke the law.


Dustin, I agree completely.... what is the saying about glass houses?


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## Great Basin Canada (May 7, 2008)

Based on 20 years work on Utah marshes, I can assure you the bird was most likely (99% confidence level) a Cinnamon hen. I have seen Bluewings in Utah but it was always on the Spring Migration and they were few and far between. Bluewings primarily are birds of the Central Flyway and fresh water wetlands. As you move westward into the alkaline wetlands, the Cinnamon replaces the Bluewing. There have been recorded instances of Bluewings breeding in Utah but not but they are very infrequent. Also, the breeding habitat for Bluewings and Cinnamons varies enough that the majority of breeding habitat in Utah favors Cinnamons.


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## wingmanck (Sep 7, 2007)

dkhntrdstn said:


> Give the guy a brake people. It not liek he shot a hen can or broke the law.


I don't see the problem with having an open discussion on the difficulty of distinguishing 2 very similar looking birds, nor I have seen one person make any type of personal attack (Riley's comment was an obvious joke related to all the crap flung at him on another thread).


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

wingmanck said:


> I don't see the problem with having an open discussion on the difficulty of distinguishing 2 very similar looking birds, nor I have seen one person make any type of personal attack (Riley's comment was an obvious joke related to all the crap flung at him on another thread).


True... purely in jest and not intended to be malicious. Glad you read it that way... I kinda worry some might not but thats all it was for. 8)


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## deadicated1 (Mar 17, 2008)

> Shouldn't the bird have been identified before it was shot? I mean seriously... what is the world coming to when we can't identify our hens?


you got me RR. but- how many people have stated how difficult it is to tell them apart? IMHHO it is a lot easier to tell a hen red head and hen bluebill apart. light me up all you want, but obviously Great basin canada never watches House. :lol: the chances are very slim, but last wednesday, i had a bonified drake blue wing land in the dekes in the same bay, and i missed him. no excuses, just missed him. he was decent in color, and i am 100%sure of it. that was the biggest reason i thought this bird was a BW. oh well. i still want one that looks like my decoy


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## Billcollector (Oct 31, 2007)

I think i will get on cabelas website and order me some avery Eurasian Wigeon decoys. That will DEFINATELY raise my chances in shooting one :twisted: :twisted:


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## Dave B (Oct 1, 2007)

I want one that looks like your decoy too. Thats the last one I need for the three that live in the US that I need. I guess I need to make a trip to Florida.


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

Dave B said:


> I want one that looks like your decoy too. Thats the last one I need for the three that live in the US that I need. I guess I need to make a trip to Florida.


or Mexico, Texas or Alabama. I work with a sales rep that has shot them down there... hmmm wonder if I can work in a hunt??


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## duck jerky (Sep 8, 2007)

In 23 years of hunting waterfowl here in utah I have only gotten 2 bluewings and the only reason I new they were BW was because the one was getting the white patch on the face.


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## deadicated1 (Mar 17, 2008)

ya the one that landed in my dekes had that patch too. in 23 years, have you ever killed any barrows goldeneyes, or any scoters? both are sea ducks, but i know of 4-5 barrows, and a scoter killed right here in the great state of utah last year. once again, not common, but possible


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Ryfly said:


> bugleboy said:
> 
> 
> > To tell the difference between a Hen Cinnamon Teal and a Hen Bluewing Teal is almost impossible.
> ...


Yes, the bill is the key for me. I carry the LeMaster Waterfowl ID book in the field. It has all the duck bills, male and females, life size, and in color. You just lay the duck bill on the pictures and match them up. There are some white eye line, overall color and minor feet discrepancies too.

Blue wings aren very rare out here, especially in October. Once and awhile a hybrid shows up.

If anyone can tell the difference it would be a bird taxidermist. They deal with the bills, feet and fuss with the ducks eyes. I think those three body parts that are the keys to ID the two types. I am as much a bird watching nut as I am a waterfowler.

I come from the Mississippi Flyway, blue-wings by the bajillions.

IMHO they are cinnys. There seems to be many this year over here in southwest Wyoming.

Happy hunting, pick up yer empties for crying out loud.


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## diverfreak (May 11, 2008)

Barrows are common to shoot in Utah if you know where to look for them, not in great numbers but you can get a few. I have seen scoters and shot one, i also got a oldsquaw out of a layout boat in the great Salt lake, unfortunately all the weird seaducks besides barrows are 95% all hens or juvenile drakes. I have to agree that a cinnamon hen and bluewing hen are hard to identify even in hand, like was metioned shoot drakes and you cant go wrong! There is nothing wrong with shooting a few brown ducks from time to time also!

DiverFreak


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## deadicated1 (Mar 17, 2008)

> There is nothing wrong with shooting a few brown ducks from time to time also!


apparently nothing wrong with the black ones either!! :wink:


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## Billcollector (Oct 31, 2007)

here is a scoter I got a couple years ago


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