Northern Pintail

Desending Drake
It was the end of a long shoot as I was packing up I noticed this Pintail drake dropping down to join the others.
Northern Pintail female
The ducks are slowly working their way back from the north, seeing lots of geese transiting through and our Trumpeter Swans are returning which adds beauty to our waters and skies.

A warm day.
We get our share of stormy, blustery days on the coast however once in a while it warms up the sun shines giving every living being hope they can may it through winter. This Northern Pintail drake enjoyed his day in the sun with a bath followed by hours of preening.

Not your average portrait of a Pintail.
Bath time was a rather strange and wonderful experience, water splashing everywhere. It seemed to be a bit of a competition with the nearby Wigeons on stirring the water up. Something I had not noticed before the Pintail did a repeated silent gesture with its bill, it looked as if it was part of the bathing routine. I was going to title this Tonsil Check but as I read today, ducks do not have tonsils.

Landing
A female Northern Pintail gives us a graceful landing, quite often they land, drop their feet back and belly-flop forward, this gal has style she stayed on her feet :)