The Chilean Pintail also known as the Brown Pintail, is a subspecies

Subspecies

Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

 of the Yellow-billed Pintail

Yellow-billed Pintail

The Yellow-billed Pintail is a South American dabbling duck of the genus Anas with three described subspecies.-Description:...

 (Anas georgica), a duck

Duck

Duck is the common name for a large number of species in the Anatidae family of birds, which also includes swans and geese. The ducks are divided among several subfamilies in the Anatidae family; they do not represent a monophyletic group but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered...

 in the dabbling duck subfamily Anatinae

Anatinae

The Anatinae is a subfamily of the family Anatidae . Its surviving members are the dabbling ducks, which feed mainly at the surface rather than by diving...

. Its local names are Pato jergón grande, Pato maicero and Pato piquidorado in Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

, and Marreca-parda or Marreca-danada in Portuguese

Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

.

Distribution and habitat

The Chilean Pintail is one of three subspecies of the Yellow-billed Pintail, and by far the most numerous and widespread. It is found throughout much of South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

 from extreme southern Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

 southwards to Tierra del Fuego

Tierra del Fuego

Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of a main island Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego divided between Chile and Argentina with an area of , and a group of smaller islands including Cape...

, as well as in the Falkland Islands

Falkland Islands

The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located about from the coast of mainland South America. The archipelago consists of East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 lesser islands. The capital, Stanley, is on East Falkland...

. The two other subspecies are the smaller South Georgia Pintail

South Georgia Pintail

The South Georgia Pintail , also misleadingly known as the South Georgian Teal, is the nominate subspecies of the Yellow-billed Pintail , a duck in the dabbling duck subfamily Anatinae...

 which is limited to the subantarctic

Subantarctic

The Subantarctic is a region in the southern hemisphere, located immediately north of the Antarctic region. This translates roughly to a latitude of between 46° – 60° south of the Equator. The subantarctic region includes many islands in the southern parts of the Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean and...

 island of South Georgia and which is sometimes considered a separate species, and the extinct

Extinction

In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...

 Niceforo's Pintail

Niceforo's Pintail

Niceforo's Pintail , is an extinct subspecies of the Yellow-billed Pintail , a duck in the dabbling duck subfamily Anatinae...

, which occurred formerly in central Colombia.

Chilean Pintails inhabit freshwater lakes, rivers, marshes, lagoons and flooded meadows up to 4600 m above sea level in the puna zone of the Andes

Andes

The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...

. Populations in the northern parts of the range are mainly sedentary; those further south migrate for the austral winter as far north as southern Brazil.

Description

Chilean Pintails are about 65 cm long. Males weigh 740-830 g and the females 660-770 g. The head and neck are brown with fine black mottling; the throat and foreneck paler. The body is mainly buff-brown with dark centres to the feathers, the birds appearing as spotted on the breast, and paler on the underparts. The feathers of the upperparts are brown-black with buff edges. The wings are grey-brown with buff-tipped greater coverts and glossy black secondaries with buff tips. The speculum is glossy black edged with buff. Females are similar to males though slightly duller in appearance. Juveniles are similar to the adults, but greyer, and with streaking on the breast and underparts. Chilean Pintails are generally paler than Niceforo’s Pintail, and both greyer and distinctly larger than the South Georgia Pintail.

Breeding

In the south of their range, the pintails start breeding from October to December, while in the north, in Peru, they breed from August to March. The cream to pale pinkish eggs are about 56 x 40 mm in size, with a weight of 42 g. Incubation takes about 26 days and the period from hatching to fledging 45-60 days.

External links

• Photographs of Chilean Pintail by Arthur Grosset