Northern Shoveler

Spatula clypeata

The Northern Shoveler is a common and widespread duck. It breeds in northern areas of Europe and Asia and across most of North America, wintering in southern Europe, Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and Central and northern South America. It is a rare vagrant to Australia.
Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata,Fall,Geotagged,Northern Shoveler,United States

Appearance

This species is unmistakable in the northern hemisphere due to its large spatulate bill. The breeding drake has an iridescent dark green head, white breast and chestnut belly and flanks.

In flight, pale blue forewing feathers are revealed, separated from the green speculum by a white border. In early fall the male will have a white crescent on each side of the face. In non-breeding plumage, the drake resembles the female.

The female is a drab mottled brown like other dabblers, with plumage much like a female Mallard, but easily distinguished by the long broad bill, which is gray tinged with orange on cutting edge and lower mandible. The female's forewing is gray.

They are 19 inches long and have a wingspan of 30 inches with a weight of 600 grams.
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Behavior

This is a fairly quiet species. The male has a clunking call, whereas the female has a Mallard-like quack.

Despite their stout appearance, shovelers are nimble fliers.
Northern Shoveler My favourite duck. Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata) sits in the swampy waters of Mud Lake, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Anas clypeata,Canada,Fall,Geotagged,Mud Lake,Northern Shoveler,Ontario,Ottawa,birds,ducks

Habitat

This is a bird of open wetlands, such as wet grassland or marshes with some emergent vegetation.
Northern shoveler Anas clypeata,Fall,Geotagged,Northern Shoveler,United States

Reproduction

The shoveler prefers to nest in grassy areas away from open water. Their nest is a shallow depression on the ground, lined with plant material and down. Hens typically lay about nine eggs.

The drakes are very territorial during breeding season and will defend their territory and partners from competing males. Drakes also engage in elaborate courtship behaviors, both on the water and in the air; it is not uncommon for a dozen or more males to pursue a single hen.
Run on water, Northern shoveler || Kumbhargaon bird sanctuary, Pune district || Dec 2022 Anas clypeata,Northern Shoveler

Food

Northern Shovelers feed by dabbling for plant food, often by swinging its bill from side to side and using the bill to strain food from the water. They use their highly specialized bill to forage for aquatic invertebrates – a carnivorous diet.

Their wide-flat bill is equipped with well-developed lamellae – small, comb-like structures on the edge of the bill that act like sieves, allowing the birds to skim crustaceans and plankton from the water's surface.

This adaptation, more specialized in shovelers, gives them an advantage over other puddle ducks, with which they do not have to compete for food resources during most of the year. Thus, mud-bottomed marshes rich in invertebrate life are their habitat of choices.

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