Northern Shoveler

Description:

Medium-sized duck with very long bill, wider at tip than at base. Male with iridescent green head, white chest, and rusty sides. Males have a dark, glossy-green head. The bill and back are black. The chest is white. Flanks and belly are chestnut-brown. Eyes are yellow. Females are grayish-brown overall; some feathers have light edging with darker centers. Bill is olive-green with yellowish base and edges. Eyes are brown. Immature birds are similar to female.

Habitat:

It breeds in northern areas of Europe and Asia and across most of North America, wintering in southern Europe, Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and Central and northern South America. It is a rare vagrant to Australia. In North America, it breeds along the southern edge of Hudson Bay and west of this body of water, and as far south as the Great Lakes west to Colorado, Nevada, and Oregon. This is a bird of open wetlands, such as wet grassland or marshes with some emergent vegetation. This pair was photographed at Phinizy Swamp Nature Park near Augusta (Richmond County), GA.

Notes:

Northern Shovelers feed by dabbling for plant food, often by swinging its bill from side to side and using the bill to strain food from the water.