Australasian Shoveler
Australasian Shoveler
46-53 cm; span 70-83 cm. Look for a swimming duck with a low silhouette and massive, dark bill, its slope rakishly repeated by neck, wingtips and tail. Male, breeding: grey-blue head marked by vertical white crescent; eye yellow; shoulder blue-grey; sides chestnut, with white flank mark; feet orange. Female: sombre brown, finely mottled darker; pale eye-ring; wing as male; feet yellow-brown. Male eclipse: like female; feet orange. Immature: like pale female. Pairs, parties, flocks with other waterfowl, often well out from shore. Flight swift, swept wings set well back; note massive spoon-tipped bill, white underwings, blue-grey shoulders, male's conspicuous orange feet. Courting males fly quickly up from water with audible leathery wingbeats, quickly drop back.
- Other names
- Australian, Blue-winged or Southern Shoveler.
- Similar Species
- Pink-eared Duck.
- Voice
- male: hoarse, repeated 'took-it'; female: quick husky quacks; when flying, a soft chatter.
- Habitat
- larger waters; fresh and saline lakes, well-vegetated freshwater wetlands; coastal inlets, sewage ponds, floodwaters.
- Breeding
- Aug.-Nov.; other months after rain.
- Nest
- of grasses, lined with down; on ground in grass or other herbage, usually near water; occasionally in hollow stump in water. Eggs: 8-11; creamy or greenish white.
- Range & Status
- e. Aust., mostly e. of line from Townsville (Q) to Eyre Pen. (SA); also Tas. and sw. WA. Most breed in Riverina (NSW); Vic; Tas., se. SA and s. WA. Dispersive and nomadic according to water conditions. Casual inland and n. Aust. Also NZ.
- Distribution key to races
- 1.Spatula rhynchotis
