Brabant Netherlands - Northern Pintail? (1 Viewer)

[Bertus]

They have been improving a large fen, typical for this region, south of Eindhoven, by several methods and stated more birds would come for this fen. And I was surprised by the number of waterbirds I discovered there today. Gadwell's, many Northern Shoveler, Tufted Duck, but new to me, a pair of Northern Pintail, if I am right?
First two pics is the same bird, it moved together with the one on pic 3 for 10 to 15 minutes

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

Hello Bertus,

you are right: a male and a female Pintail.

You can regular trust the ID skills of the species. While there are rarely exceptions, the following rule is trustable: when seeing 2 (not more) ducks swimming together in spring and one is a male and the other a female then they are both of the same species.

Apart from that, please note in the female:

• Plain, weak unpatterned head
• Uniform blueishgrey bill
• exact pale buffish colours, browner on the head (sometimes more obvious so) and paler, nearly bleached whitish flanks