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Northern Pintails are large dabbling ducks. Their plumage is dimorphic, i.e. males and females are different. In addition, males have different plumages during the breeding season and in eclipse. Breeding male Northern Pintails have a dark grey-brown head and neck, with a light-grey stripe going down the sides of the neck which connects with the light-grey front. The flanks are mid-grey, while the undertail coverts are black. The long scapulars are long; they are buff with dark centres at the front and grey with dark-grey centres at the back. The speculum is dark-green. Their name-giving feature is the long, black, pin-shaped tail. Females have cryptic plumage, with vermiculation all over. The head and neck are grey with brownish-grey, while the back, in particular the wing coverts, are dark grey-brown with light-grey edge lining. The front is greyish-brown, the flanks with vermiculation, the rest without. Non-breeding males resemble females, but with the upperwings of breeding males, with long grey scapulars. Both sexes have dark-brown irises. The legs and feet are grey. Males have a grey bill with a black culmen (all year round), while the bill of females is all-grey. Juveniles resemble females, but with less neat vermiculation.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Northern Pintail is available HERE .

Northern Pintails are present on all continents of the northern hemisphere, without exception, and Iceland (but not Greenland). They are a mostly migratory species, with only a few areas where they are sedentary. Apart from small parts of Europe, Northern Pintails are sedentary only along the West coast of the US, parts of the mid-latitude interior of the US, and the far western border region of the US with Canada. Everywhere else they are migratory. In North America they breed basically in all of sub-arctic Canada and the northern parts of the US. They overwinter in the southern US, Mexico and down into central America, to north-western Colombia. In Africa Northern Pintails from Eurasia overwinter along the North coast of the continent and in sub-Saharan Africa. In Asia their breeding range extends from roughly a line connecting the North coasts of the Black Sea and Caspian Sea with Hokkaido, Japan, to the Arctic circle. Apart from the Euphrates/Tigris lowlands and a few other, smaller areas in south-western Asia and the Middle East, the Asian population overwinters on the Indian subcontinent, south-eastern Asia and up to Honshu, Japan.

In Europe Northern Pintails are sedentary only around the southern tip of Iberia, along the lower Danube and a wide strip along the West coast of the Black Sea and in Scotland. Elsewhere there is a separation between their breeding grounds and winter quarters. They are NOT present in a strip ranging from Belgium in the North-west to most of Romania and Modavia in the South-east. Their winter quarters are anywhere to the South-west of that line, while their breeding range is anywhere to the North-east of the line (with two small exceptions in southern Sweden and southern Norway).

During the breeding season Northern Pintails have a preference for freshwater lakes and smaller pools. While many also spend the winters on fresh water, they can be found more frequently in (near-)coastal habitats outside the breeding season.

J. Pires reports spotting Northern Pintails occasionally during the winter months in various wetlands in southern/central Portugal, e.g. in the Tejo estuary, in Coruche, Santarem, and Mora, Evora, and at the Montargil Dam.

A. Sarok found Northern Pintails in Vojvodina, Serbia, in the timeframe 2010-2024.