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Among North America's duck species, northern shovelers trail only mallards and blue-winged teal in overall abundance. Their populations have been healthy since the 1960s, and have soared in recent years to more than 5 million birds (2015), most likely because of favorable breeding, migration, and wintering habitat conditions.
What sound does a Northern Shoveler make? A rather quiet duck species, northern shovelers are not particularly vocal outside of the breeding season. When pairs are forming, males can be heard making a wheezy ‘thic’ or ‘took’ sound in flight and when alarmed.
The Northern shoveler (Spatula clypeata) is a widespread species of duck unmistakable in the northern hemisphere due to its large spatulate bill. In Britain, it is known simply as the shoveler.
9 mar 2023 · The Northern Shoveler (Spatula clypeata) is a dabbling duck recognized for its distinctive large, shovel-shaped bill. It is lined with comb-like projections that enable them to sift through water for tiny crustaceans in shallow wetlands.
Perhaps the most outwardly distinctive of the dabbling ducks thanks to its large spoon-shaped bill, the Northern Shoveler busily forages head down in shallow wetlands. Its uniquely shaped bill has comblike projections along its edges, which filter out tiny crustaceans and seeds from the water.
At a Glance. Many of the dabbling ducks use their flat bills to strain food items from the water, but the big spatulate bill of the Northern Shoveler is adapted to take this habit to the extreme. Flocks of shovelers often swim along with their big bills barely submerged in front of them, straining food from the muddy soup of shallow waters.
Most hunters agree that northern shovelers “taste like ducks,” especially when feeding in agriculture and other freshwater habitats. Northern shoveler’s wintering zone includes western and Southern US, Arkansas, along coastlines and “across the pond” in Eurasia, northern Africa, and India.
