The Northern Shoveler can be found locally year round as a resident in Thurston County, WA. They are commonly found along the western and southern coasts of North America during the non-breeding season and in the north-western parts of North America during the breeding season. As seen on the range map below, the Northern Shoveler can also be found in Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Osado [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons Blue – breeding area. Red – non-breeding area. Orange – resident.

Northern Shovelers winter on both freshwater and saline wetlands (Tietje & Teer, 1996).

The effects of prescribed burns on nesting habitat were examined from 1998-2003 in Bottineau County, North Dakota. Fire did not have an apparent effect on Northern Shoveler nest density during the first postfire growing season, but following the trend of all duck species nesting habits, nest density increased during the following postfire growing seasons (Grant, Shaffer, Madden, & Berkey, 2011)

From September 1996 to March 1997, Northern Shovelers were monitored in four habitats located in Rochefort, Western France, one of which being artificial (sewage treatment ponds), and the three others being nature reserves (Guillemain, Fritz, & Guillon, 2000). It was found that earlier in the wintering season Northern Shovelers preferred the sewage treatment ponds due to their eutrophic effects providing an abundance of zooplankton; once this food supply dwindled the Northern Shovelers moved on to the nature reserves (Guillemain et al., 2000).

In the Mississippi Valley from 1 November through 28 February 1991-1992 and 1992-1993, it was found that between the following three agricultural fields – rice, soybean, and moist-soil fields, wintering Northern Shovelers preferred the soybean fields the most (Twedt & Nelms, 1999).

Below is an example of some Northern Shoveler habitat, a seasonal freshwater marsh, located at the Billy Frank Jr. – Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge in Olympia, WA.

Photo by Michael Gineo, taken at the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge on 25 Feb 2019

In coastal Texas from October-May 1982-1984 feeding habits of wintering Northern Shovelers were studied and showed that total diet biomass from Northern Shovelers in saltwater habitat was 3 times that of the total diet biomass from those sampled in freshwater habitat (Tietje & Teer, 1996). All diet samples contained animal matter with plant matter found in 98% of freshwater samples, and 95% of saltwater samples (Tietje & Teer, 1996).

Both females and males were found to eat primarily animal matter with major types of animal food sources coming from gastropods, crustaceans, and insects (Ankney & Afton, 1988). Females were found to have more protein that males and had a 14:1 ratio of protein:lipids (Ankney & Afton, 1988).

Male Northern Shovelers foraging strategy has them feeding primarily on cladocerans until mid summer when there is a drop in cladoceran availability, at this time the male Northern Shoveler undergoes a decrease in size of organs associated with feeding and lipogenesis (DuBowy, 1997). During this time males feed less and instead utilize stored fat and protein reserves to meet energy demands (DuBowy, 1997).

Recording by Ian Cruickshank, XC159952. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/159952.

In May 2009 in a wetland near Aberdeen, South Dakota it was found that a Northern Shoveler parasitized a Blue-winged Teal Nest (Lewis & Garrettson, 2010). Data collected on 3,003 nests in North Dakota from May to July 1994-1996 revealed that out of 1,494 Blue-winged Teal nests, nine were parasitized, but none by the Northern Shoveler, demonstrating that this behavior is either under reported or very uncommon (Lewis & Garrettson, 2010). Parasitism is the result of a female laying her eggs in another nest to be raised by the nests inhabitants.

Primary feather samples were collected for stable hydrogen isotope analysis from 113 Northern Shovelers wintering on Great Salt Lake in Utah from 2009-2012; these samples indicated all sampled birds molted in freshwater habitats (Roberts & Conover, 2015). The stable isotope values placed the sampled Northern Shovelers as breeding in the western US, southern Canada, and Southwestern Alaska (Roberts & Conover, 2015).

Northern Shovelers have high breeding site territoriality causing them to try and reach breeding sites earlier in the spring at the start of the breeding season to establish their breeding territory before the arrival of other Northern Shovelers (Roberts & Conover, 2015).

Northern Shovelers have an average clutch size of 10 eggs, and an average incubation time of 23 days (Ankney & Afton, 1988).

The Northern Shoveler is a species of low concern in terms of conservation. Partners in Flight estimate the global population for Northern Shovelers to be around 5,900,000.

Low pathogenicity influenza A viruses were found to be more prevalent in dabbling ducks than diving ducks, geese, and swans with Northern Shovelers having an apparent prevalence of 15% (Groepper et al., 2014). 3,984 cloacal swab samples were collected from 2005 through 2013 in Missouri, located within the Mississippi Flyway. These samples collected revealed that Blue-winged Teal and Northern Shovelers had the highest prevalence for influenza a virus (Bowman et al., 2015).

Dabbling ducks, to include Northern Shovelers, shot by hunters throughout the Central Valley of California during 2006-2008 were compared against data from 1979 to 1993 and showed an increase in body mass for these species demonstrating that conservation programs and improved land management practices have helped to provide better habitat for wintering dabbling ducks (Fleskes, Yee, Yarris, & Loughman, 2016).

Double observer methodology was used to conduct aerial population estimates of breeding ducks in the Nebraska Sandhills from 2003-2005. This survey was conducted with the pilot and one observer sitting next to each other conducting counts of breeding duck species observed on their side of the aircraft; one extra observer sat in the rear operating as the secondary observer, alternating which side of the aircraft they sat on in the rear (Vrtiska & Powell, 2011). Results showed Mallards with the highest count; Blue-winged teal, Gadwall, Northern Shovelers, and Northern Pintail made up the other top species counted, with an additional nine species observed throughout the survey (Vrtiska & Powell, 2011).

Within the Odra River Estuary located in the south-western portion of the Baltic Sea by Poland, a counting survey was conducted that consisted of 10 aerial and 10 ground counts between 2009 and 2014 in varying water conditions, ice and ice free. More birds were counted from the ground during ice free conditions, and more birds were counted from the air when ice was present; more birds overall were counted during ice free conditions (Marchowski, Jankowiak, Lawicki, & Wysocki, 2018). The results of this count placed Northern Shovelers in the group that had the greatest variability between the two census methods with an average of an 85% difference (Marchowski et al., 2018).

Below is a scatter plot showing the local Christmas Bird Count data over a 20 year period from 1997-2017 to demonstrate the population trend around Olympia, WA.

Data from http://netapp.audubon.org/cbcobservation/

Ankney, C. D., & Afton, A. D. (1988). Bioenergetics of Breeding Northern Shovelers: Diet, Nutrient Reserves, Clutch Size, and Incubation. The Condor,90(2), 459-472. doi:10.2307/1368574

Bowman, A. S., Nolting, J. M., Massengill, R., Baker, J., Workman, J. D., & Slemons, R. D. (2015). Influenza A Virus Surveillance in Waterfowl in Missouri, USA, 2005–2013. Avian Diseases,59(2), 303-308. doi:10.1637/11002-121014-reg

Dubowy, P. J. (1997). Long-term Foraging Optimization in Northern Shovelers. Ecological Modelling,95(2-3), 119-132. doi:10.1016/s0304-3800(96)00040-3

Fleskes, J. P., Yee, J. L., Yarris, G. S., & Loughman, D. L. (2016). Increased body mass of ducks wintering in Californias Central Valley. The Journal of Wildlife Management,80(4), 679-690. doi:10.1002/jwmg.1053

Grant, T. A., Shaffer, T. L., Madden, E. M., & Berkey, G. B. (2011). Ducks and Passerines Nesting in Northern Mixed-grass Prairie Treated with Fire. Wildlife Society Bulletin,35(4), 368-376. doi:10.1002/wsb.65

Groepper, S. R., Deliberto, T. J., Vrtiska, M. P., Pedersen, K., Swafford, S. R., & Hygnstrom, S. E. (2014). Avian Influenza Virus Prevalence in Migratory Waterfowl in the United States, 2007–2009. Avian Diseases,58(4), 531-540. doi:10.1637/10849-042214-reg.1

Guillemain, M., Fritz, H., Guillon, N., & Guillon, N. (2000). Foraging Behavior and Habitat Choice of Wintering Northern Shoveler in a Major Wintering Quarter in France. Waterbirds: The International Journal of Waterbird Biology,23(3), 353. doi:10.2307/1522173

Lewis, T. E., & Garrettson, P. R. (2010). Parasitism of a Blue-winged Teal Nest by a Northern Shoveler in South Dakota. The Wilson Journal of Ornithology,122(3), 612-614. doi:10.1676/10-010.1

Marchowski, D., Jankowiak, Ł, Ławicki, Ł, & Wysocki, D. (2018). Waterbird counts on large water bodies: Comparing ground and aerial methods during different ice conditions. doi:10.7287/peerj.preprints.26726v1

Partners in Flight – Avian Conservation Assessment Database. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://pif.birdconservancy.org/ACAD/Database.aspx

Roberts, A. J., & Conover, M. R. (2015). Breeding Origins of Northern Shovelers (Anas Clypeata) Wintering on the Great Salt Lake, Utah. The Wilson Journal of Ornithology,127(2), 233-238. doi:10.1676/wils-127-02-233-238.1

Sibley, D. (2016). Sibley Birds West: Field Guide to Birds of Western North America (Second Edition). New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Tietje, W. D., & Teer, J. G. (1996). Winter Feeding Ecology of Northern Shovelers on Freshwater and Saline Wetlands in South Texas. The Journal of Wildlife Management,60(4), 843. doi:10.2307/3802385

Twedt, D. J., & Nelms, C. O. (1999). Waterfowl Density on Agricultural Fields Managed to Retain Water in Winter. Wildlife Society Bulletin,27(4), 924-930.

Vrtiska, M. P., & Powell, L. A. (2011). Estimates of Duck Breeding Populations in the Nebraska Sandhills using Double Observer Methodology. Waterbirds,34(1), 96-101. doi:10.1675/063.034.0112

Michael Gineo is a senior at The Evergreen State College focusing his studies on Environmental Science and Ecology. This blog was created as an assignment for the “Birds: Inside & Out” program.