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Unidentified Shoveler (Spatula sp.) (1 Viewer)

Zoologist from the Med.

Zoologist from the Med.

Active member
Malta
Hi all. I have 2 photographs of a shoveler sp. I'm not quite sure what to make of. My first impression was of a male northern shoveler (Spatula clypeata) in eclipse. But I'm still not certain if it could even be a northern shoveler or maybe some other spatula sp. or a hybrid of some sort. The photos where taken in Malta yesterday on the 19th September 2023. Can anyone help me put my doubts to rest?, Thank you.
 

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Hello,

yes, I agree with Butty, final conclusion will certainly be a Northern Shoveler, but its a remarkable bird for me too:

yes, ""strange" Shovelers will easy be overlooked because they are regular easy to identify by monster bill and distinct feeding beaviour (regular feeding in groups, all foraging in the same direction with breast lowered in the water and heck slightly held up - this enhanced by cubic square body and heavy front end).

But your bird seems to have a mixture of "weird"= not fitting together different age features:
  • an all blackish bill of a male Shovler, lacking any orange (yish) female-type hues or any paler area of some juvenile birds. Its rare for a juvenile to have an all black bill in september???
  • a bright orange iris, lacking yellowish tinge or brownish/colder/dirty hues
Yes, the word intersex Shovler in eclipse plumage came into my mind. I hope for Jörn and others to jump in.
 
Alexander Stöhr said:
Hello,

yes, I agree with Butty, final conclusion will certainly be a Northern Shoveler, but its a remarkable bird for me too:

yes, ""strange" Shovelers will easy be overlooked because they are regular easy to identify by monster bill and distinct feeding beaviour (regular feeding in groups, all foraging in the same direction with breast lowered in the water and heck slightly held up - this enhanced by cubic square body and heavy front end).

But your bird seems to have a mixture of "weird"= not fitting together different age features:
  • an all blackish bill of a male Shovler, lacking any orange (yish) female-type hues or any paler area of some juvenile birds. Its rare for a juvenile to have an all black bill in september???
  • a bright orange iris, lacking yellowish tinge or brownish/colder/dirty hues
Yes, the word intersex Shovler in eclipse plumage came into my mind. I hope for Jörn and others to jump in.
Click to expand...
It's certainly a weird bird. I was also considering if it could've been an escaped Australian shoveler (Spatula rhynchotis) or maybe a hybrid between Northern × Australian.
 
Northern shovelers are not always that easy for defining age and sex,as you see a variability of plumages; and they have a rather complex moult strategy -and quite some individual variation ....

The mystery bird is a male Northern shoveler to me, as said already by others.
Compare some non breeding males:

https://flic.kr/p/22M6XnA

The bill is not fully black to me but rather a dark brownish inn the middle , with broad black around the edges ( but that can be in adults; and perhaps in a few advanced first year birds), duller iris color in the eye should indicate first year birds.



Here some interesting birds- said to be female but could be juvenile male due to black rump (seen in 2nd link for German bird, in 3rd link for US bird )? Or not?

eclipse adult male can show some reddish on bill

Adult female can occasionally have a fairly dark bill also:

Some birds are strange; e.g. December 2013 bird , Mai Po, HKBS Forum- ageing and sexing of this bird???

Juvenile male Northern Shoveler 幼雄琵嘴鴨 - Waterbirds 水鳥 - HKBWS Forum 香港觀鳥會討論區 - Powered by Discuz!

HKBWS Forum 香港觀鳥會討論區 Photos taken on 22 Dec 2013 at Mai Po [ Last edited by irsychan at 30/12/2013 13:43 ] - Discuz! Board
www.hkbws.org.hk




I am wondering about this one from the web - is the female a pure Northern Shoveler???? :
 
Hello,

wow! Thanks James and Jörn!
Especially for your as always excellent and detailed comment Jörn!

Does this mean, such a bright, nearly pure orange eye is within variation for a male Shoveler?

For your strange Duck, Jörn: maybe a Shoveler (spec) x White-cheeked Pintail hybrid ??? But yes, above my pagrade
 
I don´t think the eye is that reddish in real , I think the whole bird looks a bit too reddish ( was that photographed in the morning or the evening?)
especially juvenile and immature drakes will show duller eyes, and eyes of some eclipse birds can show a bit more orange yellow (that with a slight reddish color cast can make the eye look darker and even more orange....)
Here some such male birds
https://flic.kr/p/YoE6EY
https://flic.kr/p/2nQVup2

several eclipse males show orange bills ,especially from summer to early winter
https://flic.kr/p/yiMoU4

some also at odd times like this April bird
https://flic.kr/p/bR8DnV

while others show what we expect-the black bill:
https://flic.kr/p/GQAQjD

So shoveler moult and bare part coloring can be quite individual, there is a lot of variation...


Concerning the unusual female in the last link of my previous post , it might just be a pale darkbilled northern shoveler,
as there are some Northern shoveler females with darker greyish bill, not really orange (especially in winter it seems to me?):
Northern Shoveler Duck, Bachman Lake, Dallas, Texas, January 25, 2020

but it looks od to me --so what if it had some red shoveler genes ?
res shoveler female:
Female Red Shoveler ( Anas platalea )
Red Shoveler [Female]
but I think we'll never know without other photos
 

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