Anas acuta (Northern Pintail)

Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in English:

Northern Pintail

Common Names in French:

Canard Pilet

Common Names in Spanish:

Pato Golondrino

Description

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Family Anatidae

Birds that are modified for swimming, floating on the water surface, and in some cases diving in at least shallow water. They have webbed feet and flattened bills. Special oils in their feathers helps them shed water. This is one of the few families of birds that possess a penis .

Physical Description

Adult Female: Head : buff, mottled and streaked with black Crown: rusty Face : Facial Skin : gray Bill: gray Neck: buff, mottled and streaked with black Length: long Body: Belly: white Breast: buff, mottled and streaked with black Color: mottled brown Mantle: dark brown, scalloped with buff Sides: dark brown, scalloped with buff Legs : Leg Color: bluish-gray Tail: brown Shape : pointed.Adult Male: Head: brown Face: Eyebrow Line : chocolate head and hindneck, with a white vertical bar extending down to side of neck Facial Skin: gray Bill: gray Neck: brown and white Length: long Body: Back: brownish gray Breast: white Color: yellowish white at rear Mantle: vermiculated black and white Rump : white sides Sides: vermiculated gray Underparts: white Legs: Femorals: vermiculated gray Leg Color: gray Wings: Speculum: greenish brown with white line on trailing edge Tail: Length: long (especially male) Shape: long pointed feathers in middle of tail Undertail Coverts: black Uppertail Coverts: black.

Size/Age/Growth

About 19.5 to 29 inches long, with a wingspan of 29 inches. Adults weigh about 1.4-2 pounds .

Habitat

Found in ponds , tidal marshes, and estuaries.

Vegetation: freshwater marshes, freshwater lakes and ponds • Maximum Elevation: 2,000 meters • Sensitivity to Disturbancet: Low

Ecology:
List of Habitats :14.1Artificial/Terrestrial - Arable Land 14.2Artificial/Terrestrial - Pastureland

Biology

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Diet

Common inhabitants of freshwater marshes and lakes , Northern Pintails feed upon grain, seeds, small crustaceans and aquatic insects. Long tail feathers point skyward as these ducks submerge their heads to search for food.

Reproduction

Breeding Habitat : Wetland-open water
Clutch Size: 6-12
Length of Incubation : 22-25 days
Days to Fledge : 36-57
Number of Broods: 1

Migration

Migratory

Taxonomy

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Domain: Eukaryota () - Whittaker & Margulis,1978
- Kingdom: Animalia () - Linnaeus, 1758 - animals
  - Subkingdom: Bilateria () - (Hatschek, 1888) Cavalier-Smith, 1983
    - Branch: Deuterostomia () - Grobben, 1908
      - Infrakingdom: Chordonia () - (Haeckel, 1874) Cavalier-Smith, 1998
        Phylum: Chordata () - Bateson, 1885 - Chordates
        Subphylum: Vertebrata () - Cuvier, 1812 - Vertebrates
        Infraphylum: Gnathostomata () - Auct. - Jawed Vertebrates
        Superclass: Tetrapoda () - Goodrich, 1930
        Class: Aves () - Linnaeus, 1758 - Birds
        Subclass: Neornithes () - Gadow, 1893
        Infraclass: Neoaves ()
        Superorder: Anserimorphae ()
        Order: Anseriformes () - Wagler, 1831 - Ducks, Geese
        Infraorder: Anserides ()
        Family: Anatidae () - Vigors, 1825 - Ducks and Allies
        Subfamily: Anatinae ()
        Tribe: Anatini ()
        Genus: Anas () - Linnaeus, 1758
        Specific name: acuta - Linnaeus, 1758
        Scientific name: - Anas acuta Linnaeus, 1758

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 17-Oct-2001

Similar Species

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Adult male unmistakable in alternate plumage. Females, immature and eclipse-plumage males are similar to many other female ducks but have a distinctive shape: very long-necked, small-headed and pointed-tailed. Note also female's brown speculum bordered at the rear by white.

Members of the genus Anas

There are approximately 174 species in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

A. acuta (Northern Pintail) · A. acuta acuta (Northern Pintail) · A. acuta drygalskii (Northern Pintail) · A. acuta eatoni (Northern Pintail) · A. acuta tzitzihoa · A. albogularis · A. americana (American Wigeon) · A. andium · A. angustirostris · A. arcuata · A. aucklandica (Auckland Island Teal) · A. aucklandica aucklandica · A. aucklandica chlorotis · A. aucklandica nesiotis (Campbell Island Flightless Teal) · A. bahamensis (Bahama Pintail) · A. bahamensis bahamensis (White-Cheeked Pintail) · A. bahamensis galapagensis (Galapagos Pintail) · A. bahamensis rubirostris · A. bahamensis rubrirostris · A. bahamensis ssp · A. bernieri (Madagascar Teal) · A. blanchardi · A. boschas · A. brasiliensis · A. capensis (African Cape Teal) · A. carolinensis · A. castanea (Chestnut Teal) · A. chiloensis · A. chlorotis (Brown Teal) · A. clypeata (Northern Shoveler) · A. clypeata x · A. crecca (Common Teal) · A. crecca carolinensis (Green-Winged Teal) · A. crecca crecca (Green-Winged Teal) · A. crecca nimia (Aleutian Green-Winged Teal) · A. cristata · A. cyanoptera (Cinnamon Teal) · A. cyanoptera borreroi · A. cyanoptera cyanoptera (Cinnamon Teal) · A. cyanoptera orinoma · A. cyanoptera orinomus · A. cyanoptera septentrionalium (Cinnamon Teal) · A. cyanoptera ssp · A. cyanoptera tropica · A. cyanoptera tropicus · A. diazi · A. diazi novimexicana (New Mexican Duck) · A. discors (Blue Winged Teal) · A. discors discors (Blue-Winged Teal) · A. discors orphna (Blue-Winged Teal) · A. discors x · A. drygalskii · A. eatoni (Eaton's Pintail) · A. eatoni drygalskii · A. eatoni eatoni · A. erythrorhyncha (Red-Billed Duck) · A. falcata (Falcated Duck) · A. flavirostris (Speckled Teal) · A. flavirostris altipetens · A. flavirostris andinum · A. flavirostris andium · A. flavirostris flavirostris · A. flavirostris oxyptera · A. flavirostris ssp · A. floridana · A. formosa (Baikal Teal) · A. formosa georgi · A. fretensis · A. fulcigula (Mottled Duck) · A. fulvigula (Mottled Duck) · A. fulvigula fulvigula (Mottled Duck) · A. fulvigula maculosa (Mottled Duck) · A. georgica (Yellow-Billed Pintail) · A. georgica georgica · A. georgica niceforoi · A. georgica spinicauda · A. gibberifrons (Sunda Teal) · A. gibberifrons albogularis · A. gibberifrons gibberifrons · A. gibberifrons gracilis · A. gracilis (Grey Teal) · A. gracilis gracilis · A. hottentota (Hottentot Teal) · A. hybrid · A. hybrids · A. javanica · A. laysanensis (Laysan Duck) · A. leucophrys (Ringed Teal) · A. leucostigma · A. luzonica (Philippine Duck) · A. marecula (Amsterdam Island Duck) · A. maxima · A. melleri (Meller's Duck) · A. nesiotis (Campbell Island Teal) · A. novaeseelandiae · A. oustaleti (Mariana Mallard) · A. paturi · A. pelewensis · A. penelope (Eurasian Wigeon) · A. penelope x

Bibliography

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Alsop, Fred J. III. Birds of North America - Eastern Region. First American Edition. Smithsonian Handbooks. DK Publishing, Inc. 2001.
Banks, R. C., R. W. McDiarmid, A. L. Gardner, and W. C. Starnes 2003. Checklist of Vertebrates of the United States, the U.S. Territories, and Canada.
Bird Reference Citations. The numbers inserted in the text accounts above (usually in bold) refer to references. For further details on these references, click on the BirdLife International link above to go to the specific species account on the BirdLife web site. In some cases, particularly in the taxonomic notes, the references are cited using the author names. Details for these can be found on the BirdLife International web site at the following two places: For References from A–L. For References from M–Z.
BirdLife International. 2000. Threatened Birds of the World. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, U.K.
BirdLife International. 2004 Threatened Birds of the World 2004. CD-ROM. BirdLife International, Cambridge, U.K.
Ehrlich, P., Dobkin, D., and Wheye, D. (1988). The Birders Handbook: A Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds. New York: Simon and Schuster Inc. (info on clutch size, length of incubation, days to fledge and number of broods.)
Robbins, C.S., Bruun, B., Zim, H.S., (1966). Birds of North America. New York: Western Publishing Company, Inc. (Length and wingspan info.)

More Info

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Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books

Notes

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Contributors

BirdLife International 2004. In IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCNRedList.org. Downloaded July 18, 2008.
Bisby, F.A., Y.R. Roskov, M.A. Ruggiero, T.M. Orrell, L.E. Paglinawan, P.W. Brewer, N. Bailly, J. van Hertum, eds (2007). Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2007 Annual Checklist. Species 2000: Reading, U.K.
Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed November 17, 2007. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 35 providers.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 17, 2007:

Biologiezentrum der Oberoesterreichischen Landesmuseen, Biologiezentrum Linz
Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility, North West Territories and Nunavut Bird Checklist, Canada
Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility, Ontario Nest Records
Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility, Provincial Museum of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada. Birds
Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility, Royal British Columbia Museum
Marine Science Institute, UCSB, Paleobiology Database
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, Terrestrial vertebrate specimens
New Brunswick Museum, NBM birds
Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara Musem of Natural History
The Danish Biodiversity Information Facility, Western Palearctic migrants in continental Africa
UK National Biodiversity Network, Environment and Heritage Service - EHS Species Datasets
UNIBIO, IBUNAM, CNAV/Coleccion Nacional de Aves
University of Michigan Museum of Zoology
, Bird specimens

Identifiers

Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 268085
Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-175077
Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 13809828
Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 175074
IUCN ID: 47204
Natural Heritage Network Species Identifier: ABNJB10110
Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 7228