Aquatic Birds

Pair of Northern Shovelers Using Those Awesome Bills

The female is not as colorful but has the same large bill. A Northern Shoveler feeds mainly by drawing water into its bill and then pumping it out through the sides with their tongue, filtering out small food particles with long comb-like teeth that line the edge of the bill. The particles mainly consist of tiny crustaceans, mollusks, insects, and their larvae as well as seeds and pieces of leaves and stems of plants. In addition to the food particles they also eat water beetles, small minnows, and snails. You can see the comb-like teeth in my earlier portrait photo if you click on this link.
Male and Female Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata)

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