Pintail Courtships

     Pintail ducks nest around ponds and marshes in grassy habitats in much of North America, mostly in the west and mid-west, northern Europe and northern Asia.  They winter south to Central America, central Africa, India and southeastern Asia.  A few of them winter here in the Middle Atlantic States and migrate north and west through this same area early in March.   
     Pintails feed on aquatic seeds and other vegetation in winter and invertebrates and some plant material in summer.  Sometimes they join geese and other kinds of puddle ducks in feeding on grain and vegetation in fields. 
     Pintails are long and slender in body form, all the better for swift flight.  Females are light-brown with darker markings to blend into their habitat of grasses and reeds while their handsome mates have chocolate heads and necks, white throats and chests and gray wings and backs.  Drake pintails also have two long,black feathers on their tails that give the species its name.
     But their courtship flights are the most interesting part of pintail ducks' life cycle.  In February and March, pintails push north and west with hordes of snow geese, Canada geese and tundra swans.  But because the geese and swans are larger birds than the ducks and migrate in much greater numbers, the pintails usually are overlooked by most people.  But if one watches closely, small groups of drake pintails, often five, six or more of them in a nuptial group, will be noted gathering around a female of their kind to display their charms.  Each male repeatedly bows, then flicks his rear up, accompanied by a short, vocal whistle.  After several bows and whistling, the hen and her suitors take off in swift flight, around and around, over the water and surrounding fields.  The female twists and turns, banking one way, then the other, seemingly to shake the males off.  But the drakes try to persist and the one that can keep up with her becomes the mate of her choice.  Finally the couple comes down to rest on the water.  The other males drop to the water, too, but must court other females until they each earn a mate by staying with her in flight. 
     Many of these pintail courtship displays take place every day in late winter and into early spring and are interesting to see.  Though they only last a couple of weeks here and are over-shadowed by the vast flocks of big, noisy geese and swans, those pintail displays add a bit more zest to the migrations of waterfowl through the Middle Atlantic States, as elsewhere.  They are well worth the time and effort involved in finally seeing those displays after searching in the right places at the right time.