Northern Pintail (Male)

Description:

The Pintail or Northern Pintail (Anas acuta) is a duck with wide geographic distribution that breeds in the northern areas of Europe, Asia and North America. It is migratory and winters south of its breeding range to the equator. Unusually for a bird with such a large range, it has no geographical subspecies if the possibly conspecific duck Eaton's Pintail is considered to be a separate species. The Northern Pintail is a fairly large duck with a wing chord of 23.6–28.2 cm (9.3–11.1 in) and wingspan of 80–95 cm (31–37 in).[10] The male is 59–76 cm (23–30 in) in length and weighs 450–1360 grammes (1–3 lb), and therefore is considerably larger than the female, which is 51–64 cm (20–25 in) long and weighs 454–1135 grammes (1–2.5 lb).[11] The Northern Pintail broadly overlaps in size with the similarly-widespread Mallard, but is more slender, elongated and gracile, with a relatively longer neck and (in males) a longer tail. The unmistakable breeding plumaged male has a chocolate-brown head and white breast with a white stripe extending up the side of the neck. Its upperparts and sides are grey, but elongated grey feathers with black central stripes are draped across the back from the shoulder area. The vent area is yellow, contrasting with the black underside of the tail,[8] which has the central feathers elongated to as much as 10 centimetres (4 in). The bill is bluish and the legs are blue-grey.