Eaton's pintail

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Eaton's pintail, Anas eatoni, also called the southern pintail, is a small dabbling duck found only on the Kerguelen and Crozet Islands in the southern Indian Ocean. It was named after the English naturalist Alfred Eaton and described by Richard Bowdler Sharpe. Some scientists once considered it a subspecies of the northern pintail, but Eaton's pintail is smaller and the males look less like females.

What it looks like
- Size: about 35–45 cm long, wingspan 65–70 cm.
- Weight: males 430–502 g, females 400–500 g.
- Color: brownish overall with cinnamon underparts. Males have a green wing speculum; females have a brown one. Males also have longer central tail feathers.
- There are two subspecies: A. eatoni eatoni (Kerguelen pintail) and A. eatoni drygalskii (Crozet pintail).

Habitat and behavior
- It summers on freshwater wetlands such as lakes and marshes; in winter it moves to coastal bays as water freezes.
- Diet is mainly small crustaceans and invertebrates, with some seeds. They sometimes feed at southern elephant seal wallows.

Breeding and calls
- Breeds from November to March.
- Nests in tussock or grass, lined with moss and down.
- Calls are similar to the northern pintail: males give a soft proop-proop whistle, females a higher, quieter quack.

Predators and conservation
- The brown skua is a main predator, especially during molt when the birds cannot fly.
- They often shelter in dense vegetation or caves during that period.
- Eaton's pintail is listed as Vulnerable. The population appears stable, but feral cats and rats threaten them.
- An introduction attempt on Île Amsterdam failed, and there have been no sightings there since 1970. They are sometimes seen as wanderers on nearby Prince Edward Islands.