BLUE-WINGED TEAL 
375 
DISTRIBUTION 
In general. North America from Gulf of St. Lawrence, Great Slave Lake and southern British 
Columbia to Central America, West Indies and northern South America. 
Breeding Range 
The Blue-wing breeds in central North America, and is a more southern nester than most other 
shoal-water ducks. It is a rare breeder west of the Rocky Moimtains and east of the Appalachians. 
Neither the northern nor the southern limit of the breeding range is well defined. 
According to Dali and Bannister (1869) it is a rare bird near Fort Yukon and at the mouth of the 
Yukon, Alaska. They tell us that Captain Everett Smith took eggs near Cape Romanzoff. 
L. M. Turner (1886) has recorded it from Atka Island in July, but Nelson (1887) ^ 
did not come across it in the four years he spent in Alaska. There is certainly not 
suflScient evidence of its breeding or even occurring in Alaska. 
In Canada the species seems to straggle as far north as Fort Simpson (U.S. National Museum) 
and it is known to have bred rarely at Fort Providence and about Great Slave Lake (Ross and 
Kennicott, fide Preble, 1902; MacFarlane, 1908). Rae (British Museum) seems to Northern 
have taken a specimen as far north as Repulse Bay! Farther south the species is still Canada 
imcommon, though a regular breeder about Lake Athabasca (Harper, MS.), but it seems to be more 
common on the Peace River and Little Slave Lake (Spreadborough, fide J. and J. M. Macoim, 
1909). 
In British Columbia it is a rare breeder, excepting at a few points in the south, as on the lower 
Fraser (Brooks, fide J. and J. M. Macoun, 1909), at Cariboo (A. Brooks, 1903) and British 
Lac la Hache (Rhoads, J. and J. M. Macoun, 1909) and Midway (Spreadborough, Columbia 
fide J. and J. M. Macoun, 1909). 
East of the Rockies it is abundant as a breeder in Alberta, especially in the south and at Edmonton 
(Spreadborough, Dippie, ^de J. and J. M. Macoun, 1909; W. S. Brooks and Cobb, Alberta 
1911; Soper, 1918). It is equally common in southern and central Saskatchewan Saskatche- 
(Nutting, fide Preble, 1902). Buchanan (1920) met with it along the Beaver and 
Churchill Rivers and northeast even beyond Lac du Brochet, but many of these northern records 
are for non-breeding stragglers. Bent (1907) found it common in southwestern Saskatchewan and 
Ferry (1910) has recorded it for Prince Albert and Quill Lake. Western Manitoba is, perhaps, the 
center of abundance during the breeding season. The species is very plentiful there in the nesting 
season and there are breeding records for all parts of the Province (E. E. Thompso. 1891; Taverner, 
1919). 
East of Lake Winnipeg there are very few breeding records for Canada. In Ontario a few still 
breed about Lake St. Clair and Mohawk Point (Macilwraith, 1894; Saunders, fide J. and J. M. 
Macoun, 1909), at Long Point, Lake Erie, and about Ottawa (C. W. G. Eifrig, 1910). Eastern 
Possibly a few breed about Montreal (Wintle, 1896) and Toronto (U.S. Biological Sur- Canada 
vey) and in Quebec (Dionne, 1906). Chamberlain (1882) states that it is a common summer bird in 
New Brunswick, but this claim is not supported by other observations except that Cooke (1906) 
stated that it had nested in King’s County and St. .lohn County. Brewster (1884) says a few nest on 
Anticosti Island. On the Magdalens it seems to have been rather common as a breeding bird (Cory, 
1878; Job, 1902), but Mr. Job on a recent journey saw none there. There is no clear evidence of its 
ever having bred in Labrador proper where it is very rare in summer in the north (C. W. Townsend 
and Allen, 1907). J. and J. M. Macoun (1909) report a pair “evidently breeding,” observed at 
Clearwater Lake, western Labrador, July 11 , 1896. Cooke (1906) is authority for the statement that 
it has bred rarely in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia and at one time it may have been a common 
