Anas acuta

Description

The male northern pintail has a gray back and wings, a white front and neck, a brown head with a white neck-stripe, and a long thin black tail. He also has a green wing patch. The female northern pintail is overall brown with gray wings and a dark gray bill.

Voice

The male northern pintail has a whistled "prrip" and the female northern pintail has a low quack.

Breeding

November to June

Habitat

These dabbling ducks like marshes, ponds, lakes, and saltwater bays. You can also see them in fields. They build their nests on the ground.

Diet

Northern pintails eat seeds.

Range

You can find these birds in Canada and the northern midwest during the summer. They spend their winters in Mexico and along the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. They pass through VT and NH during migration.

Other Useful Information

These ducks usually stay in small flocks.

Similar Species

The female mallard and the female gadwall look almost identical to the female northern pintail. However, the gadwall has a white patch on her wing that you can see even when the wing is folded and the mallard has a blue patch on her wing that you can see when the wing is folded.