Northern Shoveler

Amber list

Spatula clypeata

A dabbling duck with an outsized spatula bill, built for filtering tiny food from the water.

Dabbling duck · 11,000 breeding pairs (UK)

Measurements

In most ducks the male (drake) and female (hen) look quite different. Study both to identify any bird.

Photos: Rhododendrites · CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Filters plankton, seeds and tiny invertebrates from the water using comb-like lamellae in its bill.

Dabbling (tips up, tail in the air) Medium (mallard-sized, 45–55 cm)

Shallow, nutrient-rich marshes, lakes and lagoons.

Breeds in lowland wetlands across the UK, especially in eastern England.

Joined in winter by birds from continental Europe.

Males give a repeated "took-took"; females quack quietly.

Compare with close relatives.

Anas platyrhynchos

The UK’s most familiar duck — the ancestor of nearly all domestic ducks and the benchmark every other species is measured against.

Mareca strepera

A quietly elegant grey duck whose subtlety hides a feisty habit of stealing food from coots.

Anas crecca

Our smallest duck — a dainty, fast-flying dabbler that gathers in busy, twittering flocks on marshes.

Mareca penelope

A neat, round-headed duck of estuaries whose whistling flocks are a sound of the British winter.