I think these Northern Pintails were the most handsome birds at Agua Caliente Park last week. These males were in their breeding plumage. "Male makes wheezy mewing notes and a whistle. Female quacks." They winter from central United States southward to northern South America. Also in southern Europe, northern Africa, and southern Asia. They are not endangered, but populations are lower than desired. [All About Birds (Cornell Ornithology Lab)]
"This elegant duck with its trim form and swift flight has been dubbed 'the greyhound of the air'. ... They are omnivorous. ... Main foods eaten include grain, moist-soil and aquatic plant seeds, aquatic insects, crustaceans and snails." [Delta Waterfowl]
3 comments:
Those are quite spectacular birds. You do get to see some beauties, pam.
Some ducks have non-breeding plumage, some have breeding plumage, but the pintail wears a tux.
Troy in Rainy Ft. Worth
Wonderful to be treated to the sight of migrating birds as they stop off a bit.
Enjoyed your previous posts pictures of the flowering desert. Reminded me of a year after an unusually wet winter when we drove through the desert outside of Scottsdale (before so congested) and came upon beautiful expanses of color -- blue flowers as I recall.
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