Alternative name: Australian Shoveler
- Spatula rhynchotis
Identification
46-56cm
- Long, spatulate bill
Male
- Blue-grey head, with a vertical white crescent
- Chestnut sides
- Blue forewing
- White underwing shows in flight
Female
- Overall rufous-brown plumage, with darker streaks on upperparts
- Buffish feather edges
Distribution
Australasia: found in south-western and south-eastern Australia including Tasmania, and New Zealand.
Photo © by the late Rookery
Cape Kidnappers, New Zealand, November 2008
Taxonomy
Formerly placed in the genus Anas.
Subspecies
Two subspecies are recognized[1].
- S. r. rhynchotis
- S. r. variegata
Some authorities treat this as a monotypic species[2].
Habitat
A wide variety of wetlands; prefers large permanent lakes or swamp that have abundant shrubbery cover of melaleuca and cumbungi.
Only an infrequent user of mangrove swamps, floodwaters, sewage farms.
Behaviour
Diet
The diet includes a wide variety of vegetable matter: herbs, grasses, pondweeds, wigeon grass, eelgrass, and algae.
Breeding
Seven or eight eggs are laid and incubated for 25-26 days; the young fledge after 40-45 days.
Gallery
Click on photo for larger image
Sub Adult or Non breeding Male
Photo © by aussietrev
Queensland, Australia, June 2009
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2022. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2022. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Gill, F, D Donsker, and P Rasmussen (Eds). 2022. IOC World Bird List (v 12.2) DRAFT. Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.12.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
- Avibase
- Animal Bytes
- Birdforum Member observations
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Australasian Shoveler. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 18 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Australasian_Shoveler
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.
