Northern Shoveler - Ross Feldner

Its easy to identify this dabbling duck with a large “shoveling” bill. The male’s bold coloring is another striking feature as is the female’s huge orange bill.

Like all dabbling ducks the Northern Shoveler forages head down in wetlands looking for tiny crustaceans and seeds. Their unique bill has around 110 comb- like projections that work as filters to separate food from the water. Groups of shovelers will sometimes form tight circles creating a vortex to bring food to the surface.

Northern Shovelers live across North America in open wetlands, wet grasslands and marshes, nesting in grassy areas away from open water. Their nest is a shallow depression in the ground, lined with vegetation and down.

They breed from Alaska to northern parts of Manitoba, with the Prairie Pothole Region of the north-central U.S. and central Canada comprising the bulk of the nesting range. During migration and winter, Northern Shovelers are common across the southern U.S. and Mexico. They are relatively early fall and late spring migrants, compared to most other dabbling ducks

Shovelers, like other dabblers, can take flight by jumping directly from the water into the air. Their wings are large in relation to their body weight, giving them the ability to lift their own weight easily from the surface of the water.