Green-wing Teal This is actually a hybrid, Green-winged Teal X Pintail. The body and tail plumage clearly show Pintail patterning, and the 'bridled' head pattern [found only in the Baikal Teal as a pure species] is I believe common to all Green-winged [American or European 'Common ' Teal] hybrids. It has been suggested that this is a reversion to an ancestral face pattern. In the 19th century, Teal x [European] Wigeon hybrids were regarded as a species, the Bimaculated Duck. I have seen this pattern emerge in a female Red-crested Pochard x Mallard, which changed from normal female plumage to what looked like a partial male plumage, showing the bridled marking. This suggests that the Mallard also carries this pattern in recessive form, and can transmit it to hybrid offspring. [Incidentally, the male RCP X Mallard never shows the bridled pattern, in either nuptial or eclipse plumage.