northern shoveler | Best Life Birding- Birdwatching Tours

For sure one of the most unique looking ducks we’ve got here in N.C. during the wintertime is the Northern Shoveler.

The group and I spotted several of these handsome birds during the trip to the Pea Island NWR last month and could not have been more pleased to see them!
We even had a chance to view this pair from under 10 feet away which allowed for some excellent photo opportunities as they happily swam right in front of us on the South Pond.

Northern Shovelers are uniquely adapted for a life spent foraging for a meal underwater. They feed by drawing water into its large spoon shaped bill and then pump it out through the sides with their tongue.
Their bill is lined with a long comb-like lamellae which filters out floating food particles such as tiny crustaceans, molluscs, insects, larvae as well as seeds and pieces of leaves and stems of aquatic plants.
In addition to the food particles they’ll also dine on water beetles, small minnows, and snails when available.

As is the case with other members of the dabbling duck family, Northern Shovelers may be found foraging for meal along the shorelines of the shallow, still or slow moving waters of marshes, ponds, flooded out fields and in our coastal impoundments.
These guys will hang out in North Carolina until
mid April before departing to their northern breeding grounds so there is still time for you to get out there and see them if you can!

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the fabulous full frame @canonusa
#5Ds

Here’s a species of dabbling duck that always makes me smile whenever I see them, the Northern Shoveler.
I’ve been lucky to have spotted a few at the Pea Island NWR In Rodanthe NC over the past couple of days.
This pair was hanging near the shore of the North Pond with a juvenile White Ibis.
Aren’t they cool looking?

Northern Shovelers are omnivores with a preference to dine on plants, duck weed, and algae; yet they’re also fond of eating aquatic insects, mollusks and even crustaceans.
Their distinctive spoon shaped bill is adapted for sifting through large amounts of muddy water to find a meal. Even their tongues are highly specialized with extensive covering of comb-like teeth called lamellae, which help filter it’s food items from the water.

When foraging, the Northern Shoveler tilts its head from side to side, water is drawn in at the tip of the bill, filtered through the lamellae to pick up any food particulate and then expelled at the base. They are voracious eaters and are frequently seen swimming with their heads underwater as they hunt for a meal in the mud.

The Northern Shoveler is a wintertime visitor to North Carolina. Look for them in freshwater & brackish ponds, shallow lakes and marshes paddling around with flocks of other dabblers such as Gadwalls, Mallards and Black Ducks.
They are particularly common in our eastern counties from September through April so there is still plenty of time for you to see them too!

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the fabulous full frame @canonusa
#5Ds