Description Male, 25-29" (64-74 cm); female,
21-23" (53-58 cm). Long-necked slender duck. Male has brown
head, white underparts and neck with white line extending onto
side of head, grayish back and sides, and long, black, pointed
central tail feathers. Speculum metallic brown and green with white
rear border that shows in flight. Feet gray. Female mottled brown,
similar to female Mallard, but paler, grayer, and more slender,
with brown speculum bordered with white at rear edge only; tail
is more pointed than in female Mallard.
Voice Distinctive 2-tone whistle; females quack.
Habitat Marshes, prairie ponds, and tundra; sometimes salt marshes
in winter.
Nesting 6-9 pale greenish-buff eggs in a shallow bowl of grass
lined with down, often some distance from water.
Range Breeds from Alaska and Labrador south to California, Nebraska,
and Maine. Locally in East and occasionally elsewhere. Winters
south to Central America and West Indies. Also in Eurasia.
Discussion Although not as numerous as the Mallard, this graceful
game bird is still a widespread and common duck, especially in
the West, where about half of North America's six million are found.
Winter flocks can be very large, numbering in the thousands. Seeds
of aquatic plants are the Pintail's main food, but in winter it
also eats small aquatic animals; when freshwater habitats freeze
over, it resorts to tidal flats, where it feeds on snails and small
crabs. Male Northern Pintails are aggressive, often forcing their
attentions on females of other species.
