Northern Pintails have been described as “evolutionary elegance,” the “gentleman” duck, “sleek” and “graceful.” I think they are all of the above. In the late winter, about now, their hormones start to flow and courtship begins. A part of courtship is aerial where males and females engage in dramatic flights that show off their elegance. It’s also a time when they have their most brilliant plumage.

On this day I was at Lake Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge in North Carolina. It was a cloudless, ‘bluebird’ day, which is not the best for photographing birds in flight. I like drama in the sky as well as the subject. But I can’t resist the opportunity to photograph pintails in flight so I’m going to photograph them wherever and whenever I can. No matter the conditions, they are "evolutionary elegance" just as described by Aldo Leopold.