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Grey Teal (Anas gracilis) Alternate name(s): "Wood Teal", "Slender Teal" Aboriginal name(s): "buuway" [yuwaalaraay]; "kalyong" (WA) Size: 42-45 cm; wing span: 60-67 cm Body mass: 350-670 g Wing loading [g/cm2]: 1.2-1.5

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Similar species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Grey Teals have an all mottled brown-grey plumage. Only the throat is a bit lighter and the cap and eye stripe are a bit darker than the rest. In general, every detail is a bit lighter in colour than in the very similar female Chestnut Teal. The speculum is green. The bill is grey, the legs and feet are dark-grey; the eyes are red. Juvenile Grey Teals have paler colours than adults.

Taxonomy, classification See Grey Teal at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Grey Teal is available HERE . Grey Teals are dabbling ducks that populate Australia, parts of New Zealand, New Guinea, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. In Australia Grey Teals can be found basically anywhere on the continent and Tasmania, wherever there is surface water. They will venture into the most arid regions (the sandy deserts of WA and the Nullarbor) only after significant rainfall. Grey Teals can be found in a variety of habitats, on fresh water and brackish water, i.e. lakes, floodplains, rivers and farm dams (also irrigation dams), but also estuaries. Occasionally they are also found in saline habitats, such as coastal waters.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Grey Teals were first spotted by us on a farm dam about 20 km West of Barraba, NSW, in April 2006. Since then we have sighted Grey Teals regularly in various types of wetlands (dams, lakes, rivers and ephemeral lakes), including, e.g., Narrabri Lake and ephemeral wetlands 20 km South of Walgett, NSW, in April 2009. They are, by far, the most abundant species of duck in inland NSW. Subsequently hundreds, at times thousands, of Grey Teals were spotted by us at Goran Lake, an ephemeral lake about 30 km South of Gunnedah, NSW, in the period April-October 2012. Grey Teals are also reqularly seen in large numbers by C. Hayne in various wetlands around Moree, NSW, including e.g. Whittaker's Lagoon. R. Plumtree reports spotting Grey Teals occasionally in East Gippsland, VIC. J. Greaves and other contributors report spotting Grey Teals in and around Perth, WA, regularly. J. Greaves reports spotting Grey Teals at the Granites Gold Mine, inland NT, in June 2015, and on Kangaroo Island, SA, in March 2016. C. Pears reports finding Grey Teals in various locations in WA, e.g. at Lake Herdsman, Perth. M. Eaton reports spotting Grey Teals regularly in various locations in both coastal and inland QLD.

Photos

ADULT

PAIR

Close-up frontal view of a pair of loafing Grey Teals (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Lake Herdsman, Perth, WA, September 2022]

Near-frontal view of a pair of Grey Teals (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Marmor, QLD, August 2023]

Near-frontal view of a pair of Grey Teals
[Yarrie Lake, NSW, April 2021]

Close-up near-lateral view of a pair of Grey Teals (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Centennial Park, Sydney, NSW, April 2014]

Close-up near-lateral/lateral view of a pair of Grey Teals (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Lake Herdsman, Perth, WA, August 2023]

Close-up lateral view of a pair of Grey Teals (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Lake Herdsman, Perth, WA, December 2025]

Lateral view of a pair of Grey Teals
[Gwydir River, Bingara, NSW, April 2019]

Sex unknown

Close-up near-frontal view of Grey Teals
[Gwydir River, Bingara, NSW, April 2019]

Close-up lateral view of an adult Grey Teal displaying its speculum (photo courtesy of C. Hayne)
[Whittaker's Lagoon, near Moree, NSW, November 2013]

Close-up lateral view of a Grey Teal (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Lake Herdsman, Perth, WA, September 2022]

Close-up lateral view of two Grey Teals
[Old Quipolly Dam, near Quirindi, NSW, December 2023]

Lateral view of a Grey Teal with its head feathers erect, possibly indicating a posture in defense of its chicks
[Narrabri Lake, NSW, November 2010]

Lateral view of two Grey Teals at an irrigation dam
[Harparary, NSW, April 2013]

Near-dorsal view of a Grey Teal (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Lake Herdsman, Perth, WA, August 2023]

Grey Teals resting by a fresh water lake (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Dowse Lagoon, Sandgate, Brisbane, QLD, August 2017]

Grey Teals on a tree trunk (photo courtesy of R. Druce)

Grey Teals feeding and resting in shallow water
[Gwydir River, Bingara, NSW, April 2019]

Lateral view of 3 Grey Teals in flight
[Goran Lake, near Gunnedah, NSW, December 2025]

Lateral view of Grey Teals in flight (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Leaning Tree Lagoon, NT, July 2019]

Near-dorsal/ventral view of Grey Teals in flight
[Whittaker's Lagoon near Moree, NSW, August 2012]

Ventral view of Grey Teals in a mixed flock with Pink-eared Ducks
[Burren Junction Bore Bath, NSW, January 2016]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Close-up lateral view of a juvenile Grey Teal
[50 km S of Mungindi, NSW, January 2023]

Lateral view of a Grey Teal with a duckling
[Burren Junction Bore Bath, NSW, February 2025]

Grey Teal with 10 chicks on a misty morning (photo courtesy of V. Collins)
[Yarrie Lake, near Wee Waa, NSW, October 2021]

Close-up view of three Grey Teal chicks
[Near Walgett, NSW, April 2009]

Grey Teal family on a lake
[Narrabri Lake, NSW, November 2010]

This family of Grey Teals was seen 6 weeks after a major inland rainfall event
[Yarrie Lake, near Wee Waa, NSW, August 2012]

Very young Grey Teal chick on an artifical dam
[Burren Junction Bore Bath, NSW, December 2015]

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Communal

Mobility: Nomadic/dispersive

Elementary unit: Pair/large flock

Like other duck species, Grey Teals are sociable birds that, when not breeding, like to congregate in large numbers.

Small section of a huge composite photo (49790x2650 pixels) of about 1500 resting Grey Teals; the original photo permits identification of basically every single bird and shows that the white spots visible in the background of the larger photo are Red-necked Avocets
[Goran Lake, NSW, June 2011]

Part of the huge flock of Grey Teals (above) resettling just 100 m further on
[Goran Lake, NSW, June 2011]

Grey Teals like very shallow water
[Narrabri, NSW, June 2015]

Lateral view of Grey Teals sifting through shallow water ("dabbling")
[Near Narrabri, NSW, July 2010]

Grey Teals on open coastal waters (photo courtesy of D. Dyer)
[Cervantes, WA, March 2022]

Grey Teals are often seen together with other ducks, in particular Australian Wood Ducks, but also with Pink-eared Ducks.

Group photo of several species of water birds - a pair of Australian Wood Ducks (centre), Grey Teals (left and right) and Australasian Grebes (the two smaller birds)
[Near Narrabri, NSW, August 2007]

Group photo of several species of aquatic birds - a pair of Australian Wood Ducks (far left), a family of Grey Teals (centre) and a pair of Australasian Grebes (front)
[Near Narrabri, NSW, August 2007]

Near-lateral/ventral view of part of a flock of Grey Teals in flight
[Near Pilliga, NSW, June 2024]

Lateral view of part of a flock of Grey Teals in flight
[Near Pilliga, NSW, June 2024]

Lateral view of part of a flock of Grey Teals in flight
[Near Pilliga, NSW, June 2024]

Lateral/ventral view of part of a flock of Grey Teals in flight
[Near Pilliga, NSW, June 2024]

Food, Diet

Close-up lateral view of a Grey Teal "dabbling", i.e. filter-feeding on plant material at the water surface
[Old Quipolly Dam, near Quirindi, NSW, December 2023]

Lateral view of a Grey Teal dabbling
[Gum Swamp, Warren, NSW, December 2016]

Lateral view of a pair of Grey Teals feeding
[Yarrie Lake, near Wee Waa, NSW, October 2020]

Lateral view of a pair of Grey Teals feeding
[Narrabri Lake, NSW, October 2010]

Grey Teal upending to feed on underwater plants (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Dowse Lagoon, Sandgate, Brisbane, QLD, August 2017]

Call(s)/Song

For this species we have recorded the following call(s)/song. The interpretation of their meaning is our own; comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome.

grteal_20250823_3.m4a	(NW NSW)	Contact calls(?)	© MD
grteal_me_20240620.m4a	(N QLD)	Contact calls(?)	© ME
grteal_20231115.m4a	(NW NSW)	Contact calls(?), in-flight	© MD
grteal_20200301.m4a	(NW NSW)	Alarm calls + contact calls	© MD
grteal_20200718.m4a	(NW NSW)	Pre-dawn; getting restless?	© MD
grteal_20260625.m4a	(NW NSW)	?	© MD
grteal_20250823_4.m4a	(NW NSW)	? (in-flight)	© MD

We have also been able to record wing beats of Grey Teals.

grteal_20231115_2.m4a	(NW NSW)	Whiffling to land (5)	© MD
grteal_20250823.m4a	(NW NSW)	Flushing (large flock)	© MD

More Grey Teal sound recordings are available at xeno-canto.org .

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

Would you like to contribute photos or sound recordings to this site? If interested, please CLICK HERE. Credits to contributors are given HERE.