that of an adult male. Juveniles resemble adult females but are duller throughout the body and less distinctively marked with spots. Ducklings have grayish brown underparts and yellowish grey below, the cheeks is paler with pinky puff wash and grey-brown ear patch. See External Links for duck external anatomy. Measurements and weights The blue-billed teal was described as the smallest known duck by D. D. Thomas and J. B. Condy in 1965. Length: 330–350 mm Weight: 53-288 g Wing: 147–157 mm Tail: 55–66 mm Bill: 32–42 mm Eggs: 43×33 mm in average, creamy, 25 g Distribution and habitat The range of the blue-billed teal extends in Africa from Angola, Zambia, eastern Congo, Malawi, northern Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, southern Ethiopia, Sudan and Madagascar. They are mainly found in tropical eastern Africa: Ethiopia to Cape Province, westward to northern Botswana and Namibia, and Madagascar. See External Links for their distribution map. The blue-billed teal prefers habitats with abundant floating-leaf plants and fringe vegetations, including shallow fresh-water swamps, marshes, streams, shallow small lakes and ponds with fringed edges of reeds or papyrus. They are observed to spend the twilight and night hours dabbling in very shallow waters and move to deeper and safer parts of the marsh during daytime. Behavior The blue-billed teal is sedentary in West Africa and Madagascar but partly migratory elsewhere, following a regular but unpredictable short-distance migration routes (up to 700 km) in southern and eastern Africa in response to changing water levels. Feeding and diet The blue-billed teal prefers feeding at muddy edges, it will also feed on lands and flooded fields like rice paddies, and in waterside that is disturbed heavily by livestock. It feeds in well-vegetated areas by dabbling, swimming or on foot. No diving during foraging is recorded. It is omnivorous, although its diet consists mainly of grass seeds, especially of the grass Sacciolepis, however it may also consume aquatic invertebrates almost exclusively such as crustaceans like ostracods, molluscs, water insects such as beetles and their larvae, if these are super abundant. Molt Molt is poorly understood in the blue-billed teal, there is no identified eclipse plumage in males, but breeding males are much brighter than females and the breast spots are more distinct. Vocalization Both sexes produce series of clicking notes, given as harsh ke-ke-ke when they are disturbed, during flying or within flock. Males produce a highly distinctive wooden rattling call that