[TheAnimal]

I've tentatively ID'd this bird (shot at Serpentine Fen on October 13, 2013) as a Northern Shoveler, however I can't tell if this is a male or a female Shoveler, as a) it doesn't have the iridescent green head that would ID it as a male (it looks almost like a black head) and the females look like a mallard with a long "shoveler" beak that is orange. Note the black beak. I'm tempted to think this is a first year male juvenile but I'm not sure.

[Birder2000]

Nice shot! This is indeed a Northern Shoveler. It is a male bird molting out of its eclipse plumage. Eclipse is a plumage that male ducks have after the breeding season. After having their bright breeding feathers, the shed them and look quite a bit like a female of their species for a while until they go back to normal starting in late summer.

[TheAnimal]

Thanks, Liron. I caught him as he was swimming away from me and snapped off a series of shots and luckily one of them was him looking back at me, wondering what kind of "howitzer shell" I was going to "nail" him with.

Luckily that brief second of looking back gave enough to ID him with. Thanks again for the ID.

[SueCoastalObserver]

Another tip off is the orange eye which the males have while the female Northern Shoveler has a brown eye.


Northern Shoveler - IMG_5860bcds by Sue Coastal Observer, on Flickr

[TheAnimal]

Thanks, Sue. Appreciate the hints Anybody up for a Serpentine Birdwatch trip?