Green-winged Teal - 1st record for Madeira

On the 11th of February Hugo Romano and Catarina Fagundes have photographed a Green-winged Teal Anas carolinensis thinking it was a Common Teal Anas crecca, in Ribeira da Janela, Porto Moniz. It was seen again on the 15th of February, on the same spot by Hugo Romano, was sent a photo to the ornithological news of SPEA (Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds) as a Common Teal and was published like that. Fortunately there are some birdwatchers who pay more attention to details than others and so Tony Clarke noticed that it was not the Anas crecca but an Anas carolinensis and e-mailed us. Thanks to Tony we can know be proud to get one more 1st record of a rare North American vagrant in Madeira Islands.

This Autumn/Winter season Madeira Wind Birds had observed already 3 North American bird species, rare vagrants in Europe - the Buff-breasted sandpiper Tryngites subruficollis in early September, the Sora Porzana carolina which is in Madeira since early December, both in Lugar de Baixo and now the Green-winged Teal Anas carolinensis. It looks like the American birds are getting fond of Madeira Nature for wintering!