 Females have been heard to give a decrescendo call similar to that of the northern pintail, as well as a creaking “inciting call” and a rasping “repulsion call”.Murphy notes “The call of the male is a shrill whistle, repeated several times and frequently uttered in flight.The duck utters a soft quack, and a gurgling note which von den Steinen likened to the bursting of large bubbles.”

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries the pintails were considered common; though Murphy reported that, by 1912, intensive hunting by whalers and sealers had reduced the population considerably.