Northern Pintail

Identification

The drake is among the most elegant of ducks: a chocolate-brown head with a white stripe running up the side of the neck, a clean white breast, finely vermiculated grey flanks, and the long needle-like central tail feathers that give the species its name. The female is a plain mottled buff-brown bird with a blue-grey bill and a pointed tail tip; she is best told from female Mallards by her slimmer build and longer neck.

Pintails are dabbling ducks of shallow wetlands, taking seeds, grain, pondweed and aquatic insects, and they often feed at night and rest during the day. They arrive early on the breeding grounds, sometimes while snow is still lying on the marsh, and nest on dry ground among sparse grass — a habit that leaves the nests exposed to foxes and farm machinery. The male's display is a far-carrying whistled note given with the neck stretched and the body reared up.

In winter they gather in large numbers on estuaries, reservoirs and flooded fields, usually mixing with other dabbling ducks, and they are a classic target of winter wildfowl counts. Early morning and dusk are the most productive times. Through a scope, check the long pointed tail streamers on males and the slim blue-grey bill on females — either is enough to confirm the identification.