Northern Pintail

The photo above is that of a male and female Northern Pintail. The male is an especially elegant, long-necked, long-tailed duck. Breeding males have much longer tails than females and nonbreeeding males.

They live in Europe, India, Asia, the Middle East and North America. During the winter, they will form large groups and forage in bays, lakes, wetlands and even walk through fields eating grains. 1,800 miles was the longest nonstop flight ever recorded for a Northern Pintail during migration.

Their diet consists of seeds and insects. Often they will forage in shallow water by up-ending or submerging their I head and neck while swimming. They sometimes will dabble on the surface of the water and filter out the food with their bills. Other times they will just walk on land and eat grain in fields.

After the Mallard the Northern Pintail is the most numerous duck species in the world. Though widespread and abundant their population has been declining since the 1960s.