Wildlife Watching Wednesday: The Northern Shoveler Duck

By: Tom Berg

Ducks are common throughout the United States.  One of the most common is the mallard duck. Male mallards have a green head and are very easy to identify. There is another green-headed duck, though, that is not a mallard at all. It is the male northern shoveler duck.

Male northern shovelers definitely have a green head like a mallard, but that’s where the similarity ends. Male mallards have a dark black eye with a yellowish beak, while male northern shovelers have a bright yellow eye and a dark black beak! Mallards also have a dark brown chest, while the shovelers have a bright white breast.

The most striking feature of the northern shoveler, of course, is its large, shovel-like bill.  Their bill is flat and wide with tiny projections which form a membrane. That membrane allows them to easily filter their food out of the water. They can efficiently grab aquatic worms, crustaceans, very small snails, seeds and underwater plant matter as they sweep their bill from side to side with a filtering action.

Male northern shovelers often get all the attention since they are the most colorful. The female shovelers are a drab brown color just like female mallards, but the female shovelers have that large shovel-shaped bill, too. Their bill is not black like the male’s bill, however. It is a bright orange color.

Northern shovelers can be found throughout much of the southern United States and along both coasts during the cold weather months, but in the springtime they migrate north and west. Breeding takes place in the northern Great Plains in the United States, central and western Canada, and throughout most of Alaska. Some shovelers also nest around the Great Lakes.

Unlike some North American birds, northern shovelers are also common in Europe, Asia, Africa and northern South America, too. They breed throughout much of northern Europe and Asia, and during the winter they migrate south again. Southern Europe, certain areas of Africa, southern Asia (like India, China and Japan to name a few) all host winter populations of northern shovelers.

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