The Shoveller — Spatula Clypeata (Linnæus)
This bird is by no means rare with us in winter, when large numbers come over from abroad. It is essentially an inland species, preferring small and sheltered pieces of water rather than wide open stretches. Its most characteristic feature is the large flattened bill with which it feeds on the surface-swimming animalculæ and other insects, the broad lamellæ of the mandibles forming an efficient strainer. When feeding three or four will often follow each other in a circle, each feeding in the other’s wake. Of late years it has become more numerous as a breeding bird, and it now nests commonly in the Broads and other districts of Norfolk and the eastern counties. In Kent and the Midlands, Yorkshire and the North, it nests sparingly, as well as in some of the southern and eastern counties of Scotland. In Ireland it is a local but by no means scarce species. Except in the breeding season it is a very silent bird; when courting it moves its head up and down, uttering a low “took, took,” which is answered by the female. The nest is generally placed at some distance from the water in the middle of a dry grass-field, where there is hardly any cover beyond a small patch of grass more luxuriant than the rest.
The eggs, which number from eight to ten, are pale greenish buff in colour. The female sits very closely, and the male remains in attendance at no great distance and accompanies her when she comes off to feed. The incubation period of this species is rather shorter than with most Ducks, and lasts between twenty-one and twenty-three days. The young are solely looked after by the Duck, and when first hatched their bills show no trace of the broadening and flattening, characteristic of the adult.
During the summer the Drake assumes an “eclipse” plumage, which somewhat resembles that of the Duck. In October he begins, unlike most other species, to assume an “intermediate” plumage, in which the head is very dark but not metallic, and the white of the breast is obscured by dark transverse bars. The full plumage is not usually complete till the end of February or early in March.
In this country our breeding birds are practically resident, only shifting from their nesting-quarters when frozen out. The majority of birds met with, however, in winter are immigrants from the Continent, who leave us again in March.
The adult Drake in full plumage is a beautiful bird. The head and upper neck are metallic green; lower neck, breast, and scapulars white; back brown; shoulders pale blue; greater wing coverts white. The under parts are deep chestnut; speculum green; bill black; legs orange.
The Duck is dark brown, with light rufous buff edgings to the feathers. Shoulders bluish. The young at first resemble the Duck, and in November begin to assume the “intermediate” plumage described above, except that the breast feathers are spotted and not barred. It does not always assume its full plumage in the first year.