Northern Shoveler (Clark County Wetlands Park BioBlitz Field Guide)

Northern Shoveler

Anas clypeata

Summary ⁷

The Northern Shoveler (/ˈʃʌvələr/; Anas clypeata), or Northern Shoveller in British English, sometimes known simply as the Shoveller, 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. In North America, it breeds along the southern edge of Hudson Bay and west...

Description ⁸

The shoveler is named for its extraordinary oversized bill, which has a broad spatula-shaped tip. Both sexes have this feature, but the drake (male) shoveler, in his flamboyant breeding plumage, is easily distinguishable from the female. He has a bottle-green head (rather like the drake mallard), a white chest, chestnut flanks and black primary wing feathers and tail. The upper shoulder of the wing has a prominent sapphire blue flash. In the late summer, the drake loses his finery, and goes into 'eclipse plumage' after moulting. Both sexes then appear mottled brown, although the drake can be identified by a white streak just in front of the eye. Immature birds are similar in appearance to birds in this eclipse phase but look somewhat darker. Shovelers belong to the family Anatidae or dabbling ducks, and this describes their feeding behaviour exactly. Shovelers rarely 'up-end' like mallard and other surface-feeding ducks. However, they will dive if disturbed.