Family Ducks, Geese, Swans (Anatidae)
Least Concern
Yellow-billed Pintail (Anas georgica)
Taxonomy
French: Canard à queue pointue German: Spitzschwanzente Spanish: Ánade maicero
Taxonomy:
Anas georgica
J. F. Gmelin
, 1789,South Georgia
.
Subspecies and Distribution
A. g. niceforoi
Wetmore & Borrero, 1946 – Andes of EC Colombia (Boyacá and Cundinamarca).
A. g. spinicauda
Vieillot, 1816 – Yellow-billed Pintail – extreme S Colombia S to Tierra del Fuego, and E to E Argentina, Uruguay and SE Brazil; Falkland Is.
A. g. georgica
J. F. Gmelin, 1789 – South Georgian Teal – South Georgia.
Descriptive notes
41·5–55 cm, male 540–655 g, female 460–495 g (georgica); 50–65 cm, 663–827 g (spinicauda). Both sexes reminiscent of... read more
Voice
Generally rather silent. Differences, if any, between nominate georgica and South American... read more
Habitat
Found in a variety of habitats throughout range, such as freshwater lakes with abundant fringe... read more
Food and feeding
Seeds, roots and vegetative parts of grasses, sedges, algae and other aquatic plants (e.g. Myriophyllum), stubble, grain, aquatic... read more
Breeding
Season variable with locality; laying Sept–Dec in S of range (spinicauda on Faklands) or (nominate) Dec–Mar on South... read more
Movements
Partially migratory; southernmost breeders of continental race move N to winter as far as SE Brazil... read more
Status and conservation
Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Widely distributed and locally abundant. Race spinicauda is one of most abundant ducks in South America, with total... read more
Thought to be close to A. acuta, with which (and A. eatoni) is sometimes partitioned off in genus Dafila. One genetic study suggested that present species forms a monophyletic group with A. acuta and A. bahamensis#R. Subspecies niceforoi, described in 1946, had been considered to be extinct by 1956, but was reportedly rediscovered in Jan 2003#R; however, claim is not convincingly documented, has been questioned#R and comes from a region (Cauca) over which disagreement apparently exists as to the subspecies that occurs there. Race spinicauda sometimes considered a full species, but apart from being significantly larger is not particularly distinctive. Two extant subspecies recognized.