Northern Pintail

Scientific name: Anas acuta

With its long tail and long neck accentuated by a slim, vertical white stripe, the male Northern Pintail’s appearance is often described as elegant. Northern Pintails are highly migratory, and move south early in the fall. They migrate at night at fairly low altitude, and fly at up to 65 miles per hour.

Nests of Northern Pintails are sometimes parasitized by other species of ducks or by Ring-necked Pheasants. Such nests hatch fewer eggs than unparasitized nests. Pintails can live a long time. The record age for a wild bird is over 21 years.

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