ODNR Division of Wildlife - A to Z Species Guide - Northern Pintail

Northern Pintail

Northern pintail 

Pintails are tough, pushing north as soon as spring thaws melt the ice. However, their peak fall migration is quite early. They are also good walkers and frequently feed in flooded fields. Early naturalists in Ohio considered the Northern pintail to be the most common duck passing through the state. After 1970, populations declined sharply due to habitat loss -- a situation that is being reversed due to better wetland conservation practices.


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Northern Pintail
Anas acuta

At-a-Glance

• Type: Puddle Duck

• Peak Breeding Activity: May

• Incubation: 22-24 days

• Clutch Size: 7-9 eggs

• Young Fledge: 36-57 days after hatching

• Typical Foods: plant matter, aquatic invertebrates, and fish
Description
The long neck and tail make them appear longer than mallards, but in body size and weight pintails are smaller. The pintail has a speculum with many iridescent colors, often bronze, with a white margin on the back edge of the wing and a brown margin at the front edge of the speculum. (The female speculum may be dull brown.) The males have very long tail feathers; the female’s tail is pointed and shorter than the male’s. The male also has a rust colored head and a white throat and belly.

Habitat and Habits
These ducks use all four flyways, but are most plentiful in the west. They are extrememly graceful and fast fliers, fond of zig-zagging from great heights before leveling off to land. They are agile on land and often feed in grain fields, but prefer marshes and open wetland habitats. The drakes whistle; the hens have a coarse quack.

Reproduction and Care of the Young
The nest is a shallow bowl of grass lined with down. The female leads the chicks to water soon after they hatch to search for food.