Northern pintail
Anas acuta
Anna Danilova · Batumi, Adjara Georgia field photo
Key facts in one look
- Size
- Male 59–76 cm, female 51–64 cm, wingspan 80–95 cm
- Diet
- Water plants, seeds, invertebrates when breeding
- Status in Georgia
- Migrant, occasional breeder
- Recorded regions
- Kvemo Kartli; Adjara; Shida Kartli
- Habitat
- Lakes, marshes, lagoons and wet meadows
- Family
- Anatidae
- Conservation
- Global LC (2019); Georgia LC (2024)
The northern pintail (Anas acuta) is a fairly large duck: the male is 59–76 cm long and weighs 450–1360 g, the female 51–64 cm and 454–1135 g. The wingspan is 80–95 cm. It is about the size of a mallard but more slender, with a longer neck. Its Georgian, English and scientific names all refer to the male's long, pointed tail. It is harmless to people. The 2024 Georgian checklist lists it as a migrant and occasional breeder, although its seasonal status in Georgia is not fully understood. Most observations fall between February and April. Most records come from Kvemo Kartli, followed by Adjara and Shida Kartli. Both globally and in Georgia it is rated Least Concern (LC).
Identification
Northern pintail: how to identify it
A slender, long-necked duck. The male has a chocolate-brown head and a white breast with a white stripe rising up the side of the neck, and its central tail feathers are lengthened by up to 10 cm. The female is mottled light brown, but is easy to recognise by its shape, long neck and long grey bill.
The male has a chocolate-brown head, a white breast and a white stripe running up the side of the neck. The back and flanks are grey, with a yellow patch under the tail and a black tail whose central feathers are long and pointed.
The female is light brown with a scalloped pattern and a plainer grey-brown head. Her tail is pointed too, but shorter. Both sexes have a bluish-grey bill and grey legs.
It flies very fast, with the wings slightly swept back. In flight the male shows a black speculum with a white rear border, and the female a dark brown speculum with a broad white rear border.
Colour
Swatches are illustrative. Do not identify a species by colour alone.
Often confused with
It is a bird of open, treeless wetlands: it breeds on wet meadows, lake shores and tundra with shallow water. In winter and on migration it uses a wider range of places: large lakes, brackish lagoons, marshes, estuaries and river deltas, often next to farmland. In Georgia most records come from Kvemo Kartli, mainly Kumisi Lake, from October to February. In Adjara, around Batumi and Khelvachauri, it is seen on migration in spring and in September. In Shida Kartli the records come from Nadarbazevi Lake, in February and March. Tbilisi, Mtskheta-Mtianeti (Bazaleti Lake), Samtskhe-Javakheti and Abkhazia have only a few records, mostly in spring.
The northern pintail map combines public iNaturalist observations from Georgia. Regions are taken from the records-by-region table, and the status column separates regions with enough records from regions with too few records. Kvemo Kartli, Adjara and Shida Kartli have enough records.
Data: Reptiles.ge + iNaturalist · Methodology
- Field observation
- Several records in one spot
- Photo record
- Region with records
It feeds in shallow water, dabbling or upending. Its long neck lets it reach food up to 30 cm deep, which other ducks such as the mallard cannot. It feeds mainly in the evening and at night and rests on open water by day. In winter it eats mainly plants: the seeds and rhizomes of water plants, and sometimes grain in fields. In the breeding season it eats mainly invertebrates: water insects, molluscs and crustaceans.
In the north it is strongly migratory. It breeds from April to June, in solitary pairs or loose groups. Males leave the breeding grounds in May and June and fly long distances to moult, and the females follow later. During the moult it cannot fly for about 4 weeks, and from mid-August it heads south. In winter and on migration it is very gregarious and forms large flocks with other ducks. The male's call is a soft whistled "proop-proop", while the female quacks like a mallard. In Georgia most observations fall between February and April. Pairs often form on migration or still on the wintering grounds. The nest is on the ground, hidden in vegetation and often some way from water: a shallow scrape lined with plants and down. The female lays 7–9 cream-coloured eggs and incubates them alone for 22–24 days. The chicks can walk as soon as they hatch, the female leads them to water, and they fledge in 46–47 days. It matures at one year. The oldest known bird was 27 years and 5 months old.
Globally the northern pintail is rated Least Concern (LC, 2019). There are 4,700,000–4,800,000 mature birds, and the number is decreasing. In North America it fell by 77.3% over 40 years, and in Europe it is decreasing by less than 25% over three generations. The threats are the drainage and loss of wetlands, oil pollution, lead shot poisoning, avian botulism and avian influenza. It nests on the ground and lays early, so spring ploughing destroys many nests: in one study in Canada more than half of the nests surveyed were lost to farm work. It is hunted across its range. The species is covered by the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) but is not listed in CITES. The 2024 Georgian checklist also rates it Least Concern (LC) in Georgia.
Matt Felperin · Josiah Reed · Juan Miguel · Anna Danilova · Oscar Hazell · Anton Chechulin · Giorgi Natsvlishvili · Vladimir Belinsky
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Yes. The 2024 Georgian checklist lists it as a migrant and occasional breeder. It is seen most often from February to April.
Most records come from Kvemo Kartli, on Kumisi Lake in winter. It passes through Adjara in spring and September, and in Shida Kartli it is seen on Nadarbazevi Lake.
The male has a chocolate-brown head, a white breast, a white stripe up the neck and a long, pointed tail. The female is mottled light brown, but can be told by her long neck and slender shape.
The male is 59–76 cm long and weighs 450–1360 g, the female 51–64 cm and 454–1135 g. The wingspan is 80–95 cm.
In winter mainly the seeds and rhizomes of water plants, and sometimes grain. In the breeding season water insects, molluscs and crustaceans.
On the ground, in a scrape hidden in vegetation, often some way from water. The female lays 7–9 eggs and incubates them for 22–24 days.
The northern pintail is harmless to people. Both globally and in Georgia it is rated Least Concern (LC), although its world numbers are decreasing. The species is covered by AEWA.
References
What this profile is based on
Species profiles are compiled from peer-reviewed literature and established biodiversity databases, and are reviewed as new taxonomic and conservation data become available.
Prepared by the Reptiles.ge editorial team from the sources listed here.
