Northern Pintail

Anas acuta

Least Concern · IUCN Red List

LCLeast ConcernPlantsWetlandPlatform nestLarge · 945 g

What the Northern Pintail sounds like

Sonogram of the Northern Pintail: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Sonothèque ADVL · Call, flight call · Miniac-Morvan, Ille-et-Vilaine, Bretagne, France · CC0 · via xeno-canto
Sonogram of the Northern Pintail: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Sonothèque ADVL · Call, song · Sougéal, Ille-et-Vilaine, Bretagne, France · CC0 · via xeno-canto
Sonogram of the Northern Pintail: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Camille Vacher · Nocturnal flight call · Massena (near Villeneuve-d'Ascq), Nord, Hauts-de-France, France · CC BY 4.0 · via xeno-canto

ID tip

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). The male is 59–76 cm (23–30 in) in length and weighs 450–1,360 g (0.99–3.00 lb), and therefore is considerably larger than the female, which is 51–64 cm (20–25 in) long and weighs 454–1,135 g (1.001–2.502 lb). 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.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Northern Pintail

One bar for each month. Filled bars are the 9 months with records; pale bars are months with none. The wide bar is January, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Northern Pintail

Regular rangeRare visitor

The map shades 153 countries with regular records, and 11 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

United States Canada Sweden India United Kingdom Belgium France Norway Taiwan Spain Japan Germany Mexico Finland Israel Portugal Netherlands Russia Poland United Arab Emirates China Türkiye Denmark South Korea Iceland Greece Hong Kong SAR China Switzerland Austria Czechia Ireland Italy Hungary Mongolia Thailand Bulgaria Oman Ukraine Sri Lanka Bermuda Azerbaijan Morocco Philippines Lithuania Estonia Nepal Iran Cyprus Kazakhstan Croatia Egypt Romania Bangladesh Serbia Slovenia Slovakia Costa Rica St. Pierre & Miquelon Belarus Kuwait Ethiopia Georgia Belize Bhutan Saudi Arabia Puerto Rico Kenya Senegal Pakistan Kyrgyzstan Northern Mariana Islands Guam Guatemala Tunisia Cuba Myanmar (Burma) Latvia Bahamas El Salvador Benin Jordan Honduras Algeria Nicaragua Moldova Guadeloupe Isle of Man Vietnam Barbados Marshall Islands Albania Jersey Malaysia Montenegro New Zealand Faroe Islands Mauritania Gambia Armenia Qatar Ghana Palau Uzbekistan Tanzania Yemen Cape Verde Cambodia Sudan Cayman Islands Palestinian Territories Luxembourg Malta Dominican Republic U.S. Virgin Islands Bosnia & Herzegovina Kosovo St. Martin Trinidad & Tobago Laos Tajikistan Bahrain North Macedonia Greenland Lebanon Singapore Syria Iraq Nigeria Haiti Ecuador Turks & Caicos Islands Venezuela Eritrea Chad North Korea Libya Antigua & Barbuda Jamaica Macao SAR China Djibouti Niger Micronesia Uganda Curaçao Cameroon Aruba St. Vincent & Grenadines Afghanistan Martinique Anguilla French Guiana St. Kitts & Nevis Guernsey

Recorded as a rare visitor in Australia, Colombia, Brazil, Panama, Seychelles, South Sudan, Congo - Kinshasa, Caribbean Netherlands, Grenada, St. Barthélemy, Turkmenistan.

About the Northern Pintail

The pintail or northern pintail is a duck species with wide geographic distribution that breeds in the northern areas of Europe and across the Palearctic and North America. It is migratory and winters south of its breeding range as far as the equator. Unusually for a bird with such a large range, it has no geographical subspecies, although the possibly conspecific duck Eaton's pintail is considered to be a separate species.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Side by side: Mallard vs Northern Pintail · Green-winged Teal vs Northern Pintail · Hooded Merganser vs Northern Pintail · American Black Duck vs Northern Pintail · Northern Pintail vs Pacific Black Duck · Mottled Duck vs Northern Pintail

Watch the Northern Pintail on live cams

Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Cam stream previewLIVE
Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge CamSacramento Valley, California, USA · US Fish and Wildlife Service on explore.org

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