Pintail on Ice

March 2024 Sometimes called the “greyhound of ducks” because of their long sleek necks and bodies, Northern Pintail drakes are beautiful birds. On one of my first waterfowl photography outings this past spring, I met up with this handsome fellow. It was a cold, near freezing spring morning. He lounged on this patch of shore ice by a muskrat lodge seemingly waiting for the water to warm up before getting in to feed. Pintails are paradoxical migrators. What this means is that they start fall migration earlier than most species and also spring migration earlier than most. They are amongst the first in and the first out of their nesting grounds. At the Marsh pintails generally arrive in early March. Most have passed through on the way to their southern Arctic nesting territories by mid-April.