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Pintails in the Marsh I painted this watercolor for my brother, Kent DeMoranville, as a Christmas gift decades ago. When he heard I made limited edition prints from my original paintings, he loaned it to me for printing. We are pleased to share this "family" watercolor with you. Northern Pintails, Anas acuta, are slim, distinctive ducks with a sleek neck and a long pointed tail. The male in breeding plumage has a chocolate-brown head and white breast and a white stripe extending up the side of the neck. Its upperparts and sides are grey, but elongated grey feathers with black central stripes drape across the back from the shoulder area. The vent area is yellow, contrasting with the black underside of the tail which has the central feathers elongated to as much as 4 in. The bill is bluish and the legs are blue-grey. Females are streaked brown, similar to female mallards but paler and more slender. Pintails inhabit marshes, prairie ponds, and tundra of Europe, Asia, and North America. This common, widely distributed species breeds in Canada and the USA from Alaska and Greenland south to western Pennsylvania, Nebraska, and California. They are strongly migratory, wintering south of their breeding range through the Gulf of Mexico to Central America, the West Indies, and northward along the Atlantic Coast to New Jersey. Small numbers even migrate to Pacific islands, particularly Hawaii, where a few hundred birds winter on the main islands in shallow wetlands and flooded agricultural habitats. The original watercolor is in our family collection but limited edition prints and note cards are available. Click here for availability and price.