Northern Pintail

A male and female Northern Pintail seen at Clark County Wetlands Park in Henderson, Nevada on January 31. The male is really showing off its long and elegant neck in the top image.

Northern Pintail

I saw this pair of Northern Pintails feeding in the canal at RNWR not far from the Ring-necked Ducks I posted yesterday.
The male has a pinkish area in the brown foliage near the back of its head on both sides. I noticed that this is not uncommon as many pictures I found on the web had similar coloration. Cornell's Birds of North American states of the Northern Pintail's Definitive Alternate Plumage, "Most of head medium to chocolate brown with purplish sheen laterally,...". This doesn't necessarily look like sheen as it stays in the same place and didn't seem to change much with the sun's angle, but this may be the explanation.

Ducks in Flight - Northern Pintail, American & Eurasian Wigeon

On Dec. 18th I was watching the ducks in the main pond off the overlook of the visitor center at TRNWR when a Bald Eagle swooped in and flushed many of the ducks. I took a few pictures of the ducks in flight and got this one of some Northern Pintails, American Wigeons and a Eurasian Wigeon. I thought it was an interesting mix in one picture.

Northern Pintail

So what do you do with an image you really like but is poorly exposed? You apply some filters with your favorite image editor and make art.

Before:

and After:
Well, I try anyway. :-)

Northern Pintail

When I started birding last March I saw very few Northern Pintails. Recently, however, I find them in high numbers in virtually all areas where water fowl hang out. It will be interesting to see if their numbers reduce as this coming March approaches.