Common Shoveler’s most distinctive feature is its large spoon shaped beak with soft edges, used to filter water for small plants and animals. You can see them swimming in tight circles as they make whirlpools to draw food up from the bottom of ponds.
The male in breeding plumage has bright wings, a bright iridescent-green head with a yellow eye, bold white breast, and chestnut sides. Females, juveniles, and males in eclipse plumage (from May through August) are mottled brown with orange legs and a green-black iridescent speculum with a blue patch on the forewing.
Photographed at Flamingo Hotel Aviary in Las Vegas, NV
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