Northern Pintail migrants early arrivals

Nature Notes for March 2, 2012

Reports of their arrival began very early this year. Thirty Northern Pintails were reported at Cobourg Harbour on January 30. Then there were reports from Presqu’ile in the first week of February, followed by reports from the Durham waterfront and several other places in southern Ontario. Last week, there were about 100 on Garden Hill pond.

This beautiful duck is known to migrate north early, but this was nearly six weeks earlier than Northern Pintail are usually expected in this area.

Pintails are really beautiful in a subdued way. They are slender ducks with quite long necks. The male has a brown head with a streak of white on the head which extends into the brown on the side of the head. Most of the body and wing feathers are gray, with another spot of white near the flank and black under the tail. The central tail feathers are very long, and give the species its common name. The female is the same slim shape as the male, but is a mottled brown. The beak on both male and female is steel gray.

Northern Pintails are “dabblers”, that is they feed in shallow water by tipping up, tail in the air and head under the water.

They eat mostly grain and seeds, and like Mallards, sometimes glean in grain, corn, soybean, and, in the south, rice fields.

When they pass through Northumberland, they can often be found, along with many other migrant waterfowl, in the temporary ponds that form in farm fields while the ground is still frozen.

The centre of their breeding abundance is in the prairie potholes of western Canada and the northern U.S., north to the tundra. This is another species which is circumpolar in its distribution, occurring also in Europe and Asia. Some of the Eurasian population winter as far south as sub-Saharan Africa.

Although some pintails nest in southern Ontario, most Ontario breeders go further north to the James Bay lowlands. There have been only three nest records for Northumberland County, during the periods of the Breeding Bird Atlases.

They prefer to nest near ponds in fairly open situations. They nest on the ground in a slight depression which the female lines with dried vegetation and down.

As with most ducks, the male takes no part in rearing the young. The female takes the ducklings to suitable feeding areas and guards them until they are old enough to be independent.

One reference I consulted claimed that Northern Pintail was the third most abundant game duck (after Mallard and American Black Duck) in North America. The population of pintail can vary quite dramatically depending on moisture conditions. In years of drought in the prairies, the population suffers. As well, the wet potholes that they favour are often disturbed by human development.

Although the population decreased during the later part of the 20^th century, it seems to be recovering now. This is due to protection of the nest areas and restricting the harvest limit for the species.

Readers can learn more about migrant waterfowl in this area at Presqu’ile Provincial Park’s Waterfowl Festival on March 17 and 18. Volunteers will be stationed at viewing platforms at several places in the park to help visitors see and identify the ducks. Depending on conditions, visitors might also get lucky and see a Bald Eagle or a Snowy Owl. Several of each have been seen in the park over this past winter.