Northern Shoveler
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Categories: Least Concern species | All pages needing cleanup | Wikipedia articles needing factual verification since February 2008 | Birds of Western Australia | Ducks | Anas | Birds of Pakistan | Birds of Europe | Birds of Australia | Birds of Oklahoma | British Isles coastal fauna
The Shoveler ([ˈʃʌv(ə)ˌlə(ɹ)]) or Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata) is a common and widespread duck which breeds in the northern areas of Europe and Asia and across most of North America. It was formerly known as Northern Shoveller. This species was first described by Linnaeus in his Systema naturae in 1758 under its current scientific name[2][verification needed]. Usually placeed in Anas like most dabbling ducks, it stands well apart from such species as the Mallard and together with the other shovelers and their relatives forms a "blue-winged" group that may warrant separation as genus Spatula. Image:Anas clypeata 3.jpg
In flight.
This dabbling duck is strongly migratory and winters further south than its breeding range. It is not as gregarious as some dabbling ducks outside the breeding season and tends to form only small flocks. This species is unmistakable in the northern hemisphere due to its large spatulate bill. The breeding male has a 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. Image:Northern Shoveler (Female)- Draining out excess water after bath I IMG 1016.jpg
Female stretching after bathing in Kolkata
The females is light brown, with plumage much like a female Mallard, but easily identified by the long broad bill. The female's forewing is grey. In non-breeding (eclipse) plumage, the drake looks more like the female. This is a bird of open wetlands, such as wet grassland or marshes with some emergent vegetation, and feeds by dabbling for plant food, often by swinging its bill from side to side and using the bill to strain food from the water. It also eats mollusks and insects in the nesting season. The nest is a shallow depression on the ground, lined with plant material and down, usually close to water. This is a fairly quiet species. The male has a clunking call, whereas the female has a Mallard-like quack. In the British Isles, home to more than 20% of the North Western European population, it is best known as a winter visitor, although it sin southern and eastern England, especially around the Ouse Washes, the Humber and the North Kent Marshes, and in much smaller numbers in Scotland and western parts of England. In winter, breeding birds move south, and are replaced by an influx of continental birds from further north. The Northern Shoveler is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.[3] No living subspecies are accepted today. Fossil bones of a very similar duck have been found in Early Pleistocene deposits at Dursunlu (Turkey). It is unresolved, however, how these birds were related to the Northern Shoveler of today; i.e. whether the differences noted were due to being a related species or paleosubspecies, or attributable to individual variation.[4] References
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bg:Клопач cs:Lžičák pestrý cy:Hwyaden Lydanbig da:Skeand de:Löffelente es:Anas clypeata eo:Kuleranaso fr:Canard souchet fy:Slob gl:Cullerete it:Anas clypeata he:מרית צפונית lt:Šaukštasnapė antis hu:Kanalas réce ms:Itik Paruh Sudu nl:Slobeend ja:ハシビロガモ no:Skjeand nn:Skeiand pl:Płaskonos se:Spoađđoduoršu fi:Lapasorsa sv:Skedand tr:Bayağı kaşıkgaga uk:Широконіска |
