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northern pintail

Anas acuta

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5 Comments

I get the impression the one on the right is an Aythya species. The Aythya species we have over here sometimes have a habit of tucking the head down into the body as in this case, and sometimes stretching out the neck to look like the one in the middle. A Gadwall should also appear longer, mid-way between a Wigeon and a Mallard, and they are very light compared to most other ducks. See this for November Gadwalls: http://www.pbase.com/tgrey/image/1472090...

AshleyT
AshleyT 9 years ago

Tough to say what the one on the right is because of the angle. Shape is right for gadwall, but many other ducks have that shape too. Looks too dark to be a female gadwall, then if it were a male it would have a black butt. So I'm not really sure

jamiewgoodspeed
jamiewgoodspeed 9 years ago

Ya it does look more like a female pintail now. what about the duck to the far right? these ducks were all along the outside of a large flock(50+) of northern wigeons. there were some definte gadwalls nearby also some shovelers and a large variety of other ducks.

Definitely not a gadwall, they have grey heads and black bills with thick orange sides.

AshleyT
AshleyT 9 years ago

Looks a lot more like a pintail in transitioning plumage or female to me. Gadwall would never have that long of a neck

jamiewgoodspeed
Spotted by
jamiewgoodspeed

USA

Spotted on Nov 29, 2014
Submitted on Nov 29, 2014

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