Spatula cyanoptera

May hybridize in the wild with A. discors (AOU 1998). Formerly (AOU 1983, 1998) considered part of Anas, but now treated as separate on the basis of genetic data (Gonzalez et al. 2009) which indicate that Anas as previously constituted was paraphyletic, and further that it consisted of four deeply divergent clades, now recognized as the separate genera Sibirionetta, Spatula, Mareca, and Anas (cf. Livezey 1991). Linear sequence of genera and species follows Gonzalez et al. (2009). (AOU 2017).

BREEDING: in North America from southern British Columbia, southern Alberta, southwestern Saskatchewan, eastern Montana, central North Dakota, southwestern South Dakota, western Nebraska, and central Kansas south to northern Baja California, Jalisco, Chihuahua, Tamaulipas, and central Texas. NON-BREEDING: central California, southern Nevada, central Utah, southeastern Arizona, southern New Mexico, and central Texas south regularly to southern Mexico, rarely or casually to Colombia, northern Venezuela, and northern Ecuador. In the U.S., the primary wintering areas are in Texas, and California (Root 1988). RESIDENT: in South America in Colombia (eastern Andes, and Cauca and Magdalena valleys), and from central Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and southern Brazil south to Straits of Magellan (but see GMIGRCOM). Casual in Hawaii, Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, and in many areas of continental U.S. (AOU 1983).