Northern Shovelers: A couple on their honeymoon

By DON BARTLING

Contributing Writer

While traveling beside ponds near the Kootenai River last week I came across a pair of ducks that appeared to be on their honey-moon. They had apparently just migrated to this area and couldn’t keep their eyes off each other if one flew the other was soon to follow.

One of the most visible characteristic of the pair of ducks was their large spoon-shaped bill, which widened towards the tip and created a shape unique to any North American waterfowl that I had seen before. The male had an iridescent green head and neck, white chest and breast and chestnut belly and sides. He had a white stripe extending from the breast along the margin of the gray-brown back, and white flank spots. The wings had a gray-blue shoulder patch, which was separated from a brilliant green speculum by a tapered white stripe. The bill was black in breeding plumage and the legs and feet were orange.

The female had a light brownish head with a blackish crown and a brownish speckled body. The upper wing coverts were grayish-blue, the greater secondary coverts were tipped with white and brown with a slight greenish sheen. The bill was fleshy orange speckled with black dots.

After observing the pair for about 15 minutes I consulted my Birds of Idaho field guide and determined the pair were Northern Shoveler ducks and appeared to be in the process of making a nest for their ensuing family.

The Northern Shovelers breed in the parklands, ponds and grasslands of North Idaho, Canada and north central United States. They prefer shallow marshes that are mud-bottomed and rich in invertebrate life. The shoveler, a medium sized duck is perhaps the most outwardly distinctive of all the dabbling ducks. Its elongated, spoon-shaped bill has comb-like projections along its edges, which filter out food from the water. They forage mainly by swimming slowly forward with the bill skimming the surface or with the head partly submerged, often swinging the bill from side to side as it sifts food from the muddy water. The shoveler seldom up-ends to feed, rarely dives, and generally does not feed on land. The average weight of a male is one and a half pounds, the female averages one and four tenths of a pound.

Their nest sites are generally located on the ground in grassy areas lacking woody cover and away from open water. The male shoveler remains with the female longer than most ducks, which often includes part of the incubation period. The nest is built by the hen and is a shallow depression partly filled with dried grasses and weeds, lined with down. The female northern shovelers lay an average of 9 eggs.

Now that spring is here, take a walk in the out-of-doors and enjoy the beauty of Boundary County.