Northern shovelers are long-billed dabbling ducks that breed across the Northern Plains of Alaska, Canada and the U.S., wintering primarily in the western and southern States. Amateur birders may mistake them for mallards, due to the coloration of the males, but shovelers ride lower in the water, using their flat bills to filter seeds and aquatic invertebrates from the shallows; indeed, they often gather in flocks to swirl in circles, stirring food from the muddy bottom.
On this cool, rainy morning in central Missouri, a friend and I visited Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area, on the Missouri River floodplain; there, shallows covered most of the fields, attracting a large number and variety of ducks. Northern shovelers dominated the scene, numbering at least 800 by my conservative count, joined by lesser but significant numbers of green-winged teal, American coot and blue-winged teal; the latter two species are just beginning to arrive in significant numbers (which usually peak in April). Other sightings included at least 400 American white pelicans, a couple dozen great-blue herons, a large flock of lesser scaup, five bald eagles (two incubating eggs) and a squadron of tree swallows, the first of the season.
But this was a morning to enjoy the biannual influx of northern shovelers. While some inhabit the refuge in winter and others dally into April, their spring migration through central Missouri generally peaks in mid-late March. We were glad to witness that event.
On this cool, rainy morning in central Missouri, a friend and I visited Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area, on the Missouri River floodplain; there, shallows covered most of the fields, attracting a large number and variety of ducks. Northern shovelers dominated the scene, numbering at least 800 by my conservative count, joined by lesser but significant numbers of green-winged teal, American coot and blue-winged teal; the latter two species are just beginning to arrive in significant numbers (which usually peak in April). Other sightings included at least 400 American white pelicans, a couple dozen great-blue herons, a large flock of lesser scaup, five bald eagles (two incubating eggs) and a squadron of tree swallows, the first of the season.
But this was a morning to enjoy the biannual influx of northern shovelers. While some inhabit the refuge in winter and others dally into April, their spring migration through central Missouri generally peaks in mid-late March. We were glad to witness that event.
