Male Northern Pintail

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Male Northern Pintail

January 7, 2016 by Mike Powell

One of my favorite winter ducks at Huntley Meadows Park is the male Northern Pintail (Anas acuta). Its elegant long neck and refined colors give it an almost aristocratic look.

The duck in the photo looks a little less dignified when grooming himself (don’t we all), but I really like the way that this image provides a glimpse of its personality. In the second image, you can get a sense of the length of the pintail’s neck and its startling brightness (and its regal posture). The final shot gives you an idea of the flexibility of that long neck—I think I have less than half of that range of motion in my neck.

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter | Tagged Alexandria VA, Anas acuta, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, male Northern Pintail, Northern Pintail, Northern Pintail Duck, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto | 15 Comments

15 Responses

on January 7, 2016 at 7:03 am | Reply svtakeiteasy

It’s a very handsome duck, Mike. I have never seen these before.
on January 7, 2016 at 7:31 am | Reply Dan Traun

Beautiful duck; great photos.
on January 7, 2016 at 7:59 am | Reply Katherine Wikoff

I love all the varied shades of brown in these photos.
on January 7, 2016 at 9:26 am | Reply Sukanya Ramanujan

Beautiful photographs!
on January 7, 2016 at 10:29 am | Reply sally

Your blog is the best kind of bird watching. I don’t have to get up early and sit in the cold damp air or drag any equipment around or get muddy or anything! Thank you for doing all that for me!
- on January 11, 2016 at 2:54 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Surrogate birding? I like the sound of that. For me, the early morning experience is one of the things I like the most–the birds are a bonus.
on January 7, 2016 at 5:52 pm | Reply Charlie@Seattle Trekker

Wonderful series, love the detail, and rich color; the light you captured is just about perfect.
- on January 11, 2016 at 2:53 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Charlie.
on January 7, 2016 at 8:42 pm | Reply waltersanford

Sharp photos, Mike! (Get it? It’s a Pintail thing.)
- on January 7, 2016 at 9:17 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Ouch.
on January 8, 2016 at 4:57 am | Reply New Hampshire Garden Solutions

It would be nice to be able to see behind us occasionally like he can. Nice shots!
- on January 8, 2016 at 4:59 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Allen.
on January 8, 2016 at 7:10 pm | Reply vedaeddy

Beautiful ducks. I too love how you processed as duotone.
- on January 8, 2016 at 7:32 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks. I didn’t deliberately process the shots as duotone, but that is sure how they came out.
on January 13, 2016 at 6:50 am | Reply Marco Pesaresi

A beautiful bird and a great set of shots.