Northern Pintail

Northern Pintail (Anas acuta)
Common Names: pintail, sprig, sprigtail, spike, spiketail
This elegant duck with its trim form and swift flight, has been dubbed‘the greyhound of the air’. Pintails are one of the first migrants in the fall and one of the first ducks to arrive on the breeding grounds in the spring.Identification Pintails are a medium sized dabbling duck. They are distinguished from other dabbling ducks by their slim profile, elegant neck and pointed tail. Drakes have a chocolate brown head and white neck and under-parts. The long, central tail feathers are black while the others are grey with a white margin. Speculum is iridescent green or green-black.Hens can be identified from other dabbling hens by their slender body, pointed tail, mottled dull brown or bronze speculum and mottled to spotted dark grey to black bill. Upper body feathers are dark brown while the lower body feathers are a lighter, spotted buff or grey. Except in size female pintails closely resemble female blue-winged teal. Distribution In North America, the core nesting habitat for pintails is found in Alaska, the prairie pothole region and the northern great plains. Pintails winter along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts from south-east Alaska and south-east Massachusetts south and from interior southern USA down to Central America, central Yucatan Peninsula, north-west Costa Rica as well as in Bermuda and Cuba. Habitat Despite their wide geographic range, pintails generally choose to nest in open country that has shallow wetlands and low vegetation. During the winter, pintails favor shallow inland freshwater and intertidal habitats. They will use flooded agricultural land, especially corn, rice, wheat, soybeans and pastures. Food Pintails are omnivorous, eating both plant and animal matter. Main foods eaten include grain, moist-soil and aquatic plant seeds, pond seeks, aquatic insects, crustaceans and snails. Hens eat more animal food during the pre-laying and laying periods. Ducklings primarily eat insect larvae, snails and crustacea the first few days after hatching.