Yellow-billed Pintail - BirdForum Opus

Photo © by JanArras
Lake Titicaca, Peru, July 2005

Anas georgica

Identification

61-71cm

• Pale warm brown head and neck, finely mottled darker
• Lighter throat
• Buffish-brown body with noticeable blackish-brown feather centres
• Spotted on breast and along flanks and upperparts

Photo showing black culmen
Photo © by luisrock62
Buenos Aires, Argentina, February 2005

• Pale belly
• Brown, long and pointed tail
• Greyish-brown upperwing, with buff tips to greater coverts; secondaries *Blackish-green secondaries, with broad buff tips
• Bright yellow bill with black tip and culmen.

Sexes similar

Distribution

South America: found from southern Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay, south-eastern Brazil, through Argentina, Chile to Tierra del Fuego, and additionally in the Falkland Islands and South Georgia Islands.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

Three subspecies are recognized^[2]:

• A. g. georgica is only found in South Georgia Islands
• A. g. spinicauda is the widespread South American form also found in the Falkland Islands
• A. g. niceforoi from central Colombia is apparently extinct

Photo © by Rodrigo Reyes
El Yali, central Chile, June 2007

All three forms have in the past been considered distinct species, and their lumping apparently was not accompanied by any arguments¹.

Habitat

Variety of wetlands, from high-elevation lakes and marshes to lowland lakes and rivers in open country.

Behaviour

Breeding

Ground nesters; the nest is concealed in amongst vegetation and lined with down and grass. The clutch consists of 4 to 10 eggs.

Diet

A dabbling duck, they also wade in shallow water or graze in waterside grasslands, only occasionally diving. Their diet consists of seeds, roots, grass and algae.

References

1. Restall et al. 2006. Birds of Northern South America. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300124156
2. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2014. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.9., with updates to August 2014. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
3. Alvaro Jaramillo. 2003. Birds of Chile. Princeton Field Guides. ISBN 0-691-11740-3
4. Wildfowl: An Identification Guide to the Ducks, Geese and Swans of the World. Steve Madge
5. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved January 2015)

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Yellow-billed Pintail. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 11 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Yellow-billed_Pintail

External Links

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