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Yellow-billed Pintail
Anas gerogica

DESCRIPTION:
Yellow-billed Pintail
Pato Maicero
Anas georgica
Length: 520mm. Sexes alike. Bill yellow with black nail and culmen; upper parts of head pale rusty chestnut finely striated with dark brown; sides of head and neck whitish or pale buff finely striated with dark brown; chin, throat and upper foreneck, whitish. Upper breast and flanks, dark brown with wide edges of feathers cinnamon brown; lower part of breast and belly light brown, with broad white edging, imparting whitish appearance; under tail coverts brown with feathers edged cinnamon brown. Back and scapulars brown with broad buff brown edging; uppertail coverts brown with buffy to cinnamon brown tips; rectrices dark brown with buffy brown tips. Lesser and median upper wing coverts greyish brown; greater wing coverts with broad apical tip light ochraceous buff; secondaries blackish brown with soft green sheen and pale ochraceous buff trailing edge; primaries brown; tertiaries brown with a wide blackish strip of velvety appearance along rachis; underwing coverts and axillaries greyish brown. Legs olive grey. Females like males but slightly smaller, wing speculum is greyish brown and tail is shorter. Young resemble adults but with duller coloration. Similar species: easily identified by its distinctive yellow bill and brown coloration overall, also its size, rounded head, long thin neck and long pointed tail. Occasionally it may be confused with the Speckled Teal (Anas flavirostris), with which it often associates, but paler coloration, different shape and size set them apart; in flight the dark underwing coverts and axillaries are also useful identification characters. Habitat and behaviour: very common and abundant, this species is found in flocks that are sometimes very large. It occurs in ponds, pools, wetlands, rivers, streams and lakes with or without emergent vegetation. The Yellow-billed Pintail may forage far away from water in stubble fields at dusk or night hours; it moves with a quick flight; when travelling to feeding places groups fly
in succession eventually gathering in highly compact flocks. Food consists mainly of seeds from nearby crop fields as well as plant matter, supplemented with minute invertebrates.
The male’s vocalisation consists of a very characteristic mellow whistle and the female emits a hoarse nasal caw very much like the calls of females of other anatid species. The nest, a mere depressions in the ground, is concealed in dense herbaceous vegetation or shrubbery, preferably away from the water or in marshes and mountain wetlands; nests are lined with grass and covered with abundant down; clutch size: up to twelve creamy pink eggs; only females brood and take care of chicks.
Due to its high adaptability to all types of freshwater or salty aquatic environments, it also occurs on marine shores. It is undoubtedly the most common of all ducks, not only in Patagonia but also in the rest of the country.
Range: in Patagonia Anas georgica spinicauda breeds from Neuquén and Río Negro to Tierra del Fuego and Islas Malvinas. The endemic race Anas georgica georgica breeds on the South Georgias and is so unlike the continental race that some authors consider it to be a different species altogether. The race Anas georgica georgica is smaller, predominant coloration is darker brown on back and browner on the abdomen and breast; the bill is shorter and the tail feathers comprise eight pairs, two more than in the race Anas georgica spinicauda.
Illustrated Handbook of the Birds of Patagonia
Kindless: Kovacs Family
 
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Photographs: Mariano Diez Peña


Birding Patagonia • Birdwatcing in Bariloche, Patagonia, Argentina and Chile.
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Photographs on the website: Mariano Diez Peña