Northern Shoveler

Overview

The northern shoveler, or Spatula clypeata, is a common and widespread dabbling duck found across the Palearctic and North America. It is a highly migratory species that breeds in northern regions and winters in more temperate areas, with populations currently exceeding five million birds.

Identification

• Unmistakable in the Northern Hemisphere due to its large, spatulated bill.
• Breeding drakes have an iridescent dark green head, white breast, and chestnut belly, while females are dull, mottled brown.
• Both sexes possess bright orange-red legs and a wingspan of 70–84 cm.
• Males are fairly quiet with a clunking call, whereas females have a mallard-like quack.

Habitat

This species inhabits open wetlands, such as wet grasslands and marshes with some emergent vegetation, and is strongly migratory. It breeds in northern Eurasia and western North America, and winters in southern Europe, the Indian subcontinent, and the southern United States.

Diet

Northern shovelers feed by dabbling for plant food and aquatic invertebrates, using their specialised bills to strain food from the water. Their wide, flat bills are equipped with comb-like lamellae that act as sieves to skim crustaceans and plankton from the water's surface.

Did you know?

The specific epithet 'clypeata' is derived from the Latin word for 'shield-bearing', referring to the bird's distinctive features. It is a rare vagrant to Australia, where it can be very difficult to distinguish from the local Australasian shoveler, particularly in eclipse plumage.