Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Northern Shoveler

I don't often get the chance to photograph a Northern Shoveler, though there are plenty of them around. Definitely don't usually see a pair of them, standing in the road. Saw these when I went for a short drive SW of the city on 11 June 2016. "Perhaps the most outwardly distinctive of the dabbling ducks, the Northern Shoveler inhabits wetlands across much of North America. Its elongated, spoon-shaped bill has comblike projections along its edges, which filter out food from the water." From AllAboutBirds. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Shoveler www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/northern_shoveler/id

Hopefully, you are looking at this image on a computer screen that is smaller than mine, so that the graininess is less obvious. Came across this colourful Northern Shoveler when I went for a short drive SW of the city two days ago, 20 April 2014.

Yesterday, I spent a wonderful, fun day with my youngest daughter, driving the backroads SE of Calgary. Some of the roads were familiar to me, but others were new territory, which gave us a chance to discover some different abandoned barns. We knew where our destination was going to be, more or less, though it was disappointing that the "heat wave" distortion was just too great to get distant, zoomed photos. Unfortunately, it was quite a hazy day, which really didn't help. Once we got really close, the problem thankfully went away. Our drive was not to see one kind of thing only. Both of us love to photograph anything beautiful or interesting. Naturally, birds were on our wish list, too, and we were lucky to come across several different species, including this handsome male Northern Shoveler that was swimming on one of the sloughs in the area. The very first place I drove to, was to see a Great Horned Owl nest. There were two young ones in it, snuggled up to Mom. They were still really young. Those who know me won't be at all surprised to hear that I couldn't find the nest that I had intended going to, lol! I was so confident driving to where I "knew" it would be, yet there was no sign of it. Next time I go back to that area, I will have to have a longer look. Other birds seen included a beautiful Meadowlark that I was so thrilled to see, a Red-tailed Hawk, and lots of elegant Swans which looked so beautiful in the sunshine with the distant Rocky Mountains in the background. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Shoveler www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/northern_shoveler/id

Just a classic side view of this handsome male Northern Shoveler. Another duck that I see quite a few of, but almost always from a long way off. Could say the same about most species of duck that I see, LOL. I always love the colouring of the Shovelers.

A photo from my archives (15th June last year) - a pair of Northern Shovelers seen in the area south east of Calgary, near where the Red Foxes had their den. talkaboutwildlife.ca/profile/?s=37

I finally got a photo (that I had to crop heavily) that shows what a Northern Shoveler looks like. You can definitely see where its name originated, LOL. I find them very attractive ducks. This was one of 64 species of birds that friends and I saw yesterday, on a drive east of the city to the Irricana and Bruce Lake area.

Northern Shovelers are common in Alberta from March to September. Photographed this male south east of Calgary, in the Frank Lake area. "This species is unmistakable in the northern hemisphere due to its large spatulate bill. The breeding male has a green head, white breast and chestnut belly and flanks. In flight, pale blue forewing feathers are revealed, separated from the green speculum by a white border. The females are light brown, with plumage much like a female Mallard, but their long broad bill easily identifies them. The female's forewing is grey. In non-breeding (eclipse) plumage, the drake looks more like the female. It is a bird of open wetlands, such as wet grassland or marshes with some emergent vegetation, and feeds by dabbling for plant food, often by swinging its bill from side to side and using the bill to strain food from the water. This bird also eats mollusks and insects in the nesting season. The nest is a shallow depression on the ground, lined with plant material and down, usually close to water." From indopedia.org.