Ánade rabudo Autonomous Community of the Basque Country

The Northern Pintail inhabits shallow, open waters with rich shoreline vegetation, along with wet meadows, mires, transition zones and flooded lowlands. It prefers wide, largely treeless landscapes and avoids narrow, closed woodland waters. As a dabbling duck it takes its plant and animal food mainly from the surface or by up-ending in shallow water without diving. Its long neck allows it to reach a little deeper than a Mallard when searching for seeds, aquatic plants, insect larvae and small crustaceans.

The Pintail is a pronounced migrant. It breeds mainly across the northern latitudes of Europe, Asia and North America and winters in southern and western Europe, around the Mediterranean and in Africa. In Central Europe it occurs predominantly as a passage migrant and winter visitor, with a clear focus on the coasts, the large river lowlands and inland staging waters. Migration roughly spans late summer to spring, with birds often travelling in loose flocks together with other dabbling ducks.

As a breeding bird the Pintail is very rare in Germany. The breeding population has for years been estimated at only a handful of pairs, with a long-term downward trend. It is listed in a high threat category on the German Red List of breeding birds. The main causes are the loss of near-natural wet meadows, the drainage of lowland habitats, conversion of grassland and disturbance at the few remaining suitable breeding sites. From a hunting perspective the Pintail is formally included on the list of huntable species, but in practice it is effectively excluded from hunting by a year-round closed season. Anyone pursuing ducks in their hunting ground should be able to identify the species reliably, as confusion with the much more common Mallard or with Wigeon and Teal is frequent and the Pintail must be spared year-round.