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Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata Pato Cuchareta,
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Photo: G. Beaton
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| IDENTIFICATION: A short-necked, dabbling duck with
an iridescent green head, white breast and rich brown sides. The female
is a mottled brown color. A light blue wing-patch is obvious in flight.
Both sexes have a flat, broad bill---one of the most unusual bills of
any Puerto Rican bird. Length: 45-50 cm.; weight: 400-800 g.
VOICE: A series of quacking or "took" notes, especially given as pairs form in late winter. Audio (M. Oberle). HABITAT: Winters in shallow, fresh and salt water swamps, ponds and marshes. HABITS: Feeds by scooping water or sediment into its wide bill and forcing mud and water out the sides through narrow ridges, to filter out insects, molluscs, crustaceans, seeds and plants. It often swings its bill from side to side as it forages. In mid-winter the male molts into breeding plumage and begins to establish a pair bond. On its breeding grounds in North America, the female builds a nest on the ground near water and does all the incubating of her 9-12 eggs for 22-25 days. The female also broods and feeds the chicks by herself until the young fly at 40-45 days after hatching. Just prior to migration south, the Shoveler stores body fat, increasing its weight as much as 25%. A Northern Shoveler banded in Alberta, Canada, was once recovered in Puerto Rico. STATUS AND CONSERVATION: An uncommon winter visitor. Over the last two centuries, its population has almost certainly declined because 55% of wetlands in its breeding range in the USA have been destroyed for agriculture or urban construction. However, in the late 1990s this speciesÆ population has increased due to wet weather on the breeding grounds. RANGE: Breeds in the northern Great Plains of North America, north to Alaska and Quebec. It winters from British Columbia and the southeastern USA, south through Central America and the Caribbean, to Venezuela and Colombia. TAXONOMY: ANSERIFORMES; ANATIDAE; Anatinae |
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Female - Photo: G. Beaton
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References Bent, A.C. 1923. Life histories of North American wild fowl, part 1. Smithsonian Instit. U.S. National Museum Bull. 126. (Reprinted by Dover Press, NY, 1962). del Hoyo, J., A. Elliott, and J. Sargatal, eds. 1992. Handbook of Birds of the World, Vol. 1. Ostrich to ducks. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. DuBowy, P. J. 1996. Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata). No. 217 in The birds of North America (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). Acad. Nat. Sci., Philadelphia, PA, and Am. Ornithol. Union, Washington, D.C. Ehrlich, P.R., D.S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1988. The birderÆs handbook: a field guide to the natural history of North American birds. Simon and Schuster/Fireside, NY. Madge, S. and H. Burn. 1988. Wildfowl: an identification guide to the ducks, geese, and swans of the world. C. Helm, London. Ortiz Rosas, P. 1981. Guía de cazador: aves de caza y especies protegidas. Depto. de Recursos Naturales, San Juan, PR. Raffaele, H.A. 1989. A guide to the birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Princeton. Raffaele, H.A. 1989. Una guía a las aves de Puerto Rico y las Islas Vírgenes. Publishing Resources, Inc., Santurce, PR. Raffaele, H.A., J.W. Wiley, O.H. Garrido, A.R. Keith, and J.I. Raffaele. 1998. Guide to the birds of the West Indies. Princeton. Northern Shoveler, Spanish text Next related species in taxonomic order Previous related species in taxonomic order |
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