The Northern Shoveler is a species of duck that lives across large parts of North America, Europe, and Asia. Male Northern Shovelers have green heads, chestnut underparts and white breasts during breeding season. Females and non-breeding males are similar: dull mottled brown all over. Both sexes have spatula-like wide bills.
Northern Shovelers are dabbling ducks, foraging for plant material by swimming with their bill lowered into the water. During breeding season they will supplement their diets with animal matter such as insects, small crustaceans, and mollusks.
Northern Shovelers are highly migratory, leaving their breeding grounds for warmer climates in the winter. Though the population trend for this species is decreasing, their very large range means their current conservation status is Least Concern as of November 2013.
The Northern Shoveler is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List and was last assessed in 2012 by BirdLife International. This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). Despite the fact that the population trend appears to be decreasing, the decline is not believed to be sufficiently rapid to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is extremely large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
Contributing to citizen Science projects helps our collective knowledge, but it also helps us as individuals learn. We'd like to highlight some citizen science projects in which families can participate. If you know of a project that we could highlight on our blog, please let us know! The... Read more »
1. Northern Shovelers use their uniquely-shaped bills to strain the water for crustaceans when feeding. 2. Northern Shovelers are fairly widespread, with populations living and breeding across parts of the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia. 3. There are three other species... Read more »
