Northern Pintail

Northern Pintail

Pintail, Common pintail, Common pintail duck, Holarctic northern pintail

Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
SPECIES
Anas acuta
Population size
7.1-7.2 Mlnlnn
Life Span
22 years
Top speed
77
48
km/hmph
km/h mph 
Weight
450-1360
15.9-48
goz
g oz 
Length
51-76
20.1-29.9
cminch
cm inch 
Wingspan
80-95
31.5-37.4
cminch
cm inch 

The Northern pintail (Anas acuta) is a duck species that has a wide geographic distribution. Unusually for a bird with such a large range, it has no geographical subspecies if the possibly conspecific duck Eaton's pintail is considered to be a separate species. The Northern pintail is a large bird, and the male's long central tail feathers give rise to the species' English and scientific names.

No

Nocturnal

Om

Omnivore

Se

Semiaquatic

Wa

Waterfowl

Pr

Precocial

Co

Congregatory

Ov

Oviparous

Se

Serial monogamy

Fl

Flocking

Hi

Highly social

Pa

Partial Migrant

N

starts with

Appearance

The Northern pintail broadly overlaps in size with the similarly widespread mallard, but is more slender, elongated, and gracile, with a relatively longer neck and (in males) a longer tail. The unmistakable breeding plumaged male has a chocolate-brown head and white breast with a white stripe extending up the side of the neck. Its upperparts and sides are grey, but elongated grey feathers with black central stripes are draped across the back from the shoulder area. The vent area is yellow, contrasting with the black underside of the tail, which has the central feathers elongated to as much as 10 cm (3.9 in). The bill is bluish and the legs are blue-grey. The adult female is mainly scalloped and mottled in light brown with a more uniformly grey-brown head, and its pointed tail is shorter than the male's; it is still easily identified by its shape, long neck, and long grey bill. In non-breeding (eclipse) plumage, the drake pintail looks similar to the female but retains the male upperwing pattern and long grey shoulder feathers. Juvenile birds resemble the female, but are less neatly scalloped and have a duller brown speculum with a narrower trailing edge.

Video

Distribution

Geography

Countries
Belgium, Bhutan, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Show More China, Colombia, DR Congo, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Gambia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, South Korea, North Korea, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Panama, Poland, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Western Sahara, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Austria, Belarus, Faroe Islands, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, United States, Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Georgia, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Macedonia, Palau, Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Slovenia, South Sudan, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Turkmenistan, Antigua and Barbuda, Guadeloupe, Australia, Jamaica, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Cote d'Ivoire, Gabon, Malawi, Maldives, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago Show Less
Regions
WWF Biomes

Northern pintails breed across northern areas of the Palearctic south to about Poland and Mongolia, and in Canada, Alaska, and the Midwestern United States. Mainly in winters south of their breeding range, reaches almost to the equator in Panama, northern sub-Saharan Africa, and tropical South Asia. Small numbers migrate to Pacific islands, particularly Hawaii, where a few hundred birds winter on the main islands. In parts of the range, such as Great Britain and the northwestern United States, pintails may be present all year. The breeding habitat of Northern pintails is open unwooded wetlands, such as wet grassland, lakeside, or tundra. In winter, they can be found in a wider range of open habitats, such as sheltered estuaries, brackish marshes, coastal lagoons, and flooded and dry agricultural fields.

Northern Pintail habitat map
Northern Pintail habitat map
Northern Pintail
Attribution-ShareAlike License

Habits and Lifestyle

Northern pintails are highly gregarious outside the breeding season and form very large mixed flocks with other ducks. They walk well on land and swim well. Pintails have a very fast flight, with their wings slightly swept-back, rather than straight out from the body like other ducks. They feed by dabbling and upending in shallow water for plant food mainly in the evening or at night and therefore spend much of the day resting. Their long neck enables them to take food items from the bottom of water bodies up to 30 cm (12 in) deep. When on land pintails feed by grazing, picking at the grain, and digging out roots and tubers with their bill. These birds are generally quiet but the male's call is a soft proop-proop whistle, similar to that of the common teal, whereas the female has a mallard-like descending quack, and a low croak when flushed.

Seasonal behavior
Bird's call

Diet and Nutrition

Northern pintails are omnivores and their diet varies seasonally. In winter they eat mainly plant material including seeds and rhizomes of aquatic plants, but may sometimes feed on roots, grain, and other seeds in fields. During the nesting season, these birds eat mainly invertebrate animals, including aquatic insects, mollusks, and crustaceans.

Mating Habits

MATING BEHAVIOR
REPRODUCTION SEASON
April-June
INCUBATION PERIOD
22-24 days
FEMALE NAME
duck
MALE NAME
drake
BABY NAME
duckling
web.animal_clutch_size
7-9 eggs

Northern pintails are serially monogamous and form pair bonds that last only during one breeding season. Pairs usually form in autumn and winter and birds arrive together at their breeding grounds. Breeding takes place between April and June, with the nest being constructed on the ground and hidden amongst vegetation in a dry location, often some distance from water. It is a shallow scrape on the ground lined with plant material and down. The female lays 7 to 9 cream-colored eggs at the rate of one per day. If predators destroy the first clutch, the female can produce a replacement clutch as late as the end of July. The female alone incubates the eggs for 22 to 24 days before they hatch. The precocial (fully-developed) downy chicks are then led by the female to the nearest body of water, where they feed on dead insects on the water's surface. The chicks fledge in 46 to 47 days after hatching but stay with the female until she has completed molting. They reach reproductive maturity at one year of age.

Population

Population threats

The main threats to Northern pintails include avian diseases, hunting, habitat loss, lead poisoning, and predation by mammals. These birds are popular for game shooting because of their speed, agility, and excellent eating qualities, and are hunted across their range. The preferred habitat of Northern pintails is naturally susceptible to problems such as drought or the encroachment of vegetation and might be increasingly threatened by climate change. Populations are also affected by the conversion of wetlands and grassland to arable crops, depriving pintails of feeding and nesting areas. Spring planting means that many nests of these early breeding ducks are destroyed by farming activities, such as ploughing and harrowing.

Population number

According to the IUCN Red List, the total population size of the Northern pintail is 7,100,000-7,200,000 individuals. This roughly equates to 4,700,000-4,800,000 mature individuals. The European population consists of 210,000-269,000 pairs, which equates to 419,000-539,000 mature individuals. Currently, this species is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List but its numbers today are decreasing.

Fun Facts for Kids

  • The scientific name of the Northern pintail comes from two Latin words: anas, meaning "duck", and acuta, which comes from the verb acuere, "to sharpen"; both the species term and the English name, refer to the pointed tail of the male in breeding plumage.
  • Being very strong flyers, Northern pintails can achieve great speeds and thus earned the nickname ‘greyhound of the air’.
  • During the breeding period, female pintails protect their nests by distracting predators. They pretend to be injured and this way lead the predator away from the young.
  • Northern pintails perform very extensive migrations within their large range and thus have earned the title of “nomads of the skies”.
  • Ducks have special air sacs inside their bodies that increase their buoyancy and don't let them drown.

Coloring Pages

References

1. Northern Pintail on Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_pintail
2. Northern Pintail on The IUCN Red List site - https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22680301/153882797
3. Xeno-canto bird call - https://xeno-canto.org/694736

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