Northern Shoveler

Anas clypeata
STANFORD LOCATIONS:

Uncommon to fairly common winter visitor at Lagunita, usually seen foraging in shallows at the edge of the lake.
  
Nest
Location
Nest
Type
Eggs
Mating System
Dev.
Parental Care
Primary &
2ndary Diet
Foraging
Strategy
F
I: 22-25 DAYS
PRECOCIAL 2
 
F
9-12
(6-14)
MONOG
F: 38-66 DAYS
F
AQUATIC INVERTS
BREEDING: Freshwater shallows, esp muddy, sluggish habitats and surrounding marsh veg; also wet, prairie meadows. 1 brood.
DISPLAYS: See: Duck Displays.
NEST: Usu in short grass on boggy edge of water, occ in field, meadow, or emergent veg. Concealed depression filled with dry grass, other veg. Lined with down as incubation advances.
EGGS: Olive-buff/greenish-gray. 2.0" (52 mm).
DIET: Aquatic veg, esp plankton; snails, clams, aquatic insects. Feeds primarily by straining small plants and animals from water's surface through comblike edge of bill; also feeds along mudflat margins.
CONSERVATION: Winters s to n S.A.
NOTES: Females incubate more sporadically than other ducks, spend more time foraging. Some males remain paired and stay on territories throughout incubation. Often nests late, esp in n.
ESSAYS: Metallic Poisons; Dabblers vs. Divers; Commensal Feeding; Incubation Time; Breeding Season; Feathered Nests.
REFERENCES: Afton, 1979a, b; Bellrose, 1976; Gooders and Boyer, 1986.

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Except for Stanford Locations, the material in this species treatment is taken, with permission, from The Birder's Handbook (Paul Ehrlich, David Dobkin, & Darryl Wheye, Simon & Schuster, NY. 1988).