- Anas 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; Tasmania, and New Zealand.
Taxonomy
Subspecies[1]
There are 2 subspecies
- A. r. rhynchotis:
- A. r. variegata:
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.
Eclipse
Photo by Rookery
Cape Kidnappers, New Zealand, November 2008Sub Adult or Non breeding Male
Photo by aussietrev
Queensland, Australia, June 2009
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.
References
- Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
- Avibase
- Animal Bytes
- BF Member observations
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Australasian Shoveler. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 21 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Australasian_Shoveler