Never-before-seen migratory bird spotted in wetland in Pudong
A green-winged teal (top left) is spotted together with a drake common teal in Nanhui Dongtan in the Pudong New Area.
A migratory bird never seen in Shanghai has been spotted in Nanhui Dongtan Wetland, on the east side of Dishui Lake in the Pudong New Area.
The green-winged teal nests near lakes, wetlands and rivers and breeds in the northern areas of North America. The smallest North American dabbling duck has a chestnut head with a green eye patch and a vertical white stripe on its shoulder.
The bird eats aquatic invertebrate, wetland plant seeds and pond weeds, and flies to the south in winter.
It is rarely seen in China and was only recorded in Beidaihe, a coastal resort near Beijing, according to the Shanghai Wildlife Protection Station, adding that it was seen in Hong Kong, Shantou and Taiwan in the past.
Two foreign bird watchers spotted the bird as well as a drake common teal in Nanhui Dongtan recently, according to the Shanghai Greenery and Public Sanitation Bureau.
The drake common teal (a Eurasian relative of this bird) looks similar to the green-winged teal, but it features horizontal white scapular stripes, the bureau said.
