We get a lot of pintail on Thief Lake, and a few pintail decoys are a valuable part of a dabbler spread here. While I like a decoy spread where low head, contented birds predominate, pintails are one species where I like a little bit taller head. On drakes, especially, I like that tall triangle of white - I think it's visible from a ways away and attracts attention to a decoy spread.

Pintails are tall, slender elegant birds.  A preening hen seemed like a good way to show off her subtle colors.

Both birds are self-righting, have hollow northern white cedar bodies, basswood heads and weighted oak keels. They are painted in acrylics, and have been a part of the decoy spread for over five years. The tail feathers or "pins" on drake pintails are always a challenge - trying to imitate those long central tail feathers without being too fragile.  In this case I inletted a piece of maple into the back of the block, and carved there feathers from that. I probably shouldn't worry about that here, since birds are rarely that far along in the molt.