The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae as Anas acuta. The scientific name comes from two Latin words: anas, meaning ‘duck’ and acuta, which comes from the verb acuere, ‘to sharpen’ The male’s long central tail feathers give rise to the species’ English and scientific names. Both sexes have blue-grey bills and grey legs and feet.
About Northern pintail in brief
The northern pintail breeds in the northern areas of Europe and across the Palearctic and North America. It is migratory and winters south of its breeding range to the equator. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae as Anas acuta. The scientific name comes from two Latin words: anas, meaning ‘duck’ and acuta, which comes from the verb acuere, ‘to sharpen’ The male’s long central tail feathers give rise to the species’ English and scientific names. Both sexes have blue-grey bills and grey legs and feet. The drake is more striking, having a thin white stripe running from the back of its chocolate-coloured head down its neck to its mostly white undercarriage. The hen’s plumage is more subtle and subdued, with drab brown feathers similar to those of other female dabbling ducks. Hens make a coarse quack and the drakes a flute-like whistle. It feeds by dabbling for plant food and adds small invertebrates to its diet during the nesting season. This duck’s population is affected by predators, parasites and avian diseases. Human activities, such as agriculture, hunting and fishing, have also had a significant impact on numbers.
Nevertheless, owing to the huge range and large population of this species, it is not threatened globally. The pintails are sometimes separated in the genus Dafila, an arrangement supported by morphological, molecular and behavioural data. A claimed extinct subspecies from Manra Island, Tristram’s pintail, A. modesta, appears to be indistinguishable from the nominate form. The three syntype specimens of the extinct sub species are held in the collections of National Museums Liverpool at World Museum, with accession numbers T11792, T11795 and T11797. The specimens were collected by J. V. Arundel in Sydney Island, Phoenix Islands in 1885 and came to the Liverpool national collection via Canon Henry Baker Tristam’s collection which was purchased in 1896. The male is 59–76 cm in length and weighs 450–1,360 g, and therefore is larger than the female, which is 51–64 cm long and weighs 454–1135 g. The adult male has a chocolate-brown head and white breast with a white stripe extending the side of the neck. The vent area is yellow, contrasting with the black underside of the vent area, which has the central feathers as much as 10cm long.
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This page is based on the article Northern pintail published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 02, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
