About Anas georgica J.F.Gmelin, 1789
The yellow-billed pintail (Anas georgica J.F.Gmelin, 1789) has a brown head and neck. Its bill is yellow with a black tip and a black stripe running down the center. It has a brownish, pointed tail. The upper wing is grayish-brown, while the secondaries are blackish-green. The remainder of the body is buffish brown, marked with black spots of varying sizes. This species is sometimes mistaken for the yellow-billed teal (Anas flavirostris), but can be distinguished by the yellow stripes on its bill, its larger body size, and its tendency to not form large groups. The nominate subspecies is smaller and darker than Anas georgica spinicauda. The yellow-billed pintail forms a superspecies with the northern pintail (Anas acuta).
The species' range covers most of South America, the Falkland Islands, and South Georgia. The nominate and smallest subspecies, the South Georgia pintail A. g. georgica, is found only on South Georgia, and its population is estimated to be between 1000 and 1500 breeding pairs. The Chilean, or brown, pintail A. g. spinicauda is widespread across the South American mainland from extreme southern Colombia southwards, and also occurs in the Falkland Islands, with a total population of well over 110,000 individuals. Niceforo's pintail A. g. niceforoi, which was formerly found in central Colombia, is believed to be extinct; it was last recorded in 1952, and was first described only in 1946. Yellow-billed pintails occupy open country habitats, ranging from high-elevation lakes and marshes to low-elevation lakes, rivers, and coasts.
