How to Identify aNorthern Pintail
Anas acuta · 20.1–29.9 in (51–76 cm)
Male vs. female
Male
Chocolate-brown head with a white finger of the breast running up the side of the neck, gray body and long black central tail feathers.
Female
Mottled tan and brown, plainer-faced than other female ducks, with a slender neck and pointed tail.
Male photo: Frank Schulenburg / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Female photo: Frank Schulenburg / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Field marks
- White neck stripe pointing up into a brown head
- Long needle-pointed central tail feathers on the male
- Very long slim neck
- Plain unmarked face on the female
Similar species
What it sounds like
The male gives a soft mellow whistle; the female a hoarse quack.
Behaviour that gives it away
Migrates extraordinarily long distances, with birds banded in North America recovered as far away as Japan and Britain.
Habitat & range
Shallow marshes, flooded fields and prairie wetlands; winters on wetlands and rice fields.
When you'll see it
Depending on where in North America you are, it is a winter visitor and a passage migrant, seen mainly in spring and autumn.
What it eats
Seeds, grain and aquatic plants, plus invertebrates in the breeding season.
Did you know?
Its long neck lets it reach food in water deeper than most dabbling ducks can use without diving.
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