Anas clypeata (Northern shoveler, Northern shoveller)

Europese slopeend [Afrikaans]; Slobeend [Dutch]; Canard souchet [French]; Löffelente [German]; Pato-trombeteiro-europeu [Portuguese]

Life > Eukaryotes > Opisthokonta > Metazoa (animals) > Bilateria > Deuterostomia > Chordata > Craniata > Vertebrata (vertebrates)  > Gnathostomata (jawed vertebrates) > Teleostomi (teleost fish) > Osteichthyes (bony fish) > Class: Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fish) > Stegocephalia (terrestrial vertebrates) > Tetrapoda (four-legged vertebrates) > Reptiliomorpha > Amniota > Reptilia (reptiles) > Romeriida > Diapsida > Archosauromorpha > Archosauria > Dinosauria (dinosaurs) > Saurischia > Theropoda (bipedal predatory dinosaurs) > Coelurosauria > Maniraptora > Aves (birds) > Order: Anseriformes > Family: Anatidae

Northern shoveler male (left) and female (right), Eagle Creek Park, Indiana, USA. [photo Ryan Sanderson ©]

Distribution and habitat

Breeds in North America and northern Eurasia, heading south in the non-breeding season to West Africa and the area from Egypt to eastern Zambia. It is a rare vagrant to southern Africa with most records in the Western Cape and Gauteng, with about half a dozen more elsewhere in South Africa, northern Namibia, northern Zimbabwe and southern Mozambique. It generally favours shallow freshwater wetlands in grassland, with plenty of mud and invertebrates.

Food 

Mainly eats aquatic invertebrates, doing most of its foraging by dabbling, diving or up-ending.

References

• Hockey PAR, Dean WRJ and Ryan PG 2005. Roberts - Birds of southern Africa, VIIth ed. The Trustees of the John Voelcker Bird Book Fund, Cape Town.