A small dabbling duck with a massive, spatula-shaped bill. It is a specialist feeder: the inside of the bill bill is furnished with comb-like sieves, which the bird uses to filter water and extract small microscopic animals and algae. It keeps the head low over the water, bill in, or up-ending. Often a group will filter-feed together, swimming round and round as pin-wheels, stirring the sediment in a spot in good locations. Both sexes have a blue and green speculum and females and males in eclipse (non-breeding season) have similar colour patterns to female mallard, but the bill is diagnostic. Drakes in breeding plumage are stunning birds, with a black bill and green iridescent head and yellow eye, white chest with brick-red bellies, and black, iridescent back with white stripes. The tail is white. The UK population swells in winter with arrivals from the continent.
The Shoveler is a scarce wintering duck in Hull, found between August and April. The best locations are the Bransholme Reservoir, where a group can often be seen outside the breeding season and East Park Lake, where a pair or two will also winter. Occasionally they have been recorded in Oak Road Lake and the Willerby Carrs area. Flocks can be seen during passage in the Humber. There is an old breeding record at Salt End in 1984 reported by R.K. Broughton.
No comments:
Post a Comment