Male pintail at Leighton Moss Water-birds roost half-hidden in reeds on the fringe of the pool. After somnolence comes lively action as pintail take to the water close to the hide. They give a ring-side performance in a flurry of courtship behaviour and feather-care. Winter visitors, most will breed in Iceland and Scandinavia and that migratory flight calls for good condition, with strong flight-feathers.
There's an enchantment about their lives. I imagine their migratory flight and their summer breeding grounds. I like that element of mystery. Cantus Artica by Einojuhani Rautavaara, The Song of the Wild Swans, the whooper swans of Finland, evokes northern landscapes I know and love.
My video catches their soft and intimate calls. They're dabbling ducks, dipping down in the water to feed on vegetation. They display in an audible flurry of flapping, making waves, creating an aura where sunlight catches ripples that flow out about them. My favourite image of the day shows the chocolate brown head of a pintail rising through a cascade of water.
The scene of pintail dipping, diving and preening seems to me magical, as if choreographed. For the birds each action is precise, meticulous, and functional. Feather-care is vital, and constant. Islets of reeds and patterns of stippling show the water is shallow, so pintail have easy access to their food source. Most birds are already forming a winter pair bond and they'll fly together on that migration north to their summer breeding ground. Within the flock I see courtship behaviour. 'If winter come can spring be far behind', pintail are making ready.
In the first half of the 13th century Frederick II, The Holy Roman Emperor, was a falconer. He wrote a treatise De Arte Venani Cum Avibus, The Art of Hunting with Birds. His work includes a study of the preen gland. Pintail necks twist and long bills squeeze oil from the preen gland (uropygial gland) just above the tail and they spread it through their feathers to keep them water- resistant. Up pops a pintail and water droplets slide off, water off a duck’s back. The oil gives microbial-resistance too. I suppose farmers who keep ducks often see their birds intent on feather-care.
Those odd postures of pintail give some sense of the bird shaking water through their wings, using the long bill to tease out each feather and slick it into place. Having the good fortune to watch this closely is a privilege. Today, there are many pintail and the group assembles where we may watch their antics and delight in what we see.
Those odd postures of pintail give some sense of the bird shaking water through their wings, using the long bill to tease out each feather and slick it into place. Having the good fortune to watch this closely is a privilege. Today, there are many pintail and the group assembles where we may watch their antics and delight in what we see.
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