DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS: SHOVELLER 
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white or whitish; iris brown, bill with upper mandible greenish, lower mandible 
edged with orange, legs and feet orange, paler than in male. Young: The immature 
male is intermediate between the adult male and female, the breast usually tinged 
with chestnut. The immature female resembles the adult female, but the wing 
coverts are slaty gray instead of blue, the speculum dusky, with little or no green 
(Chapman). 
Range. —Temperate regions in the Northern Hemisphere and northern parts 
of Southern Hemisphere. In North America breeds from northwestern Alaska, 
mouth of the Mackenzie, central Alberta, and eastern Manitoba south to Indiana, 
Kansas, northern Texas, southern New Mexico, central Arizona, and southern 
California; winters from southern British Columbia, Arizona, New Mexico, southern 
Texas, Illinois, and east to Virginia south to Antilles, Colombia, and in Hawaii. 
State Records. —The breeding range of the Shoveller extends from the Arctic 
south to southern California, southern New Mexico, and central Kansas. [“Rather 
common over the State, nesting in the Pecos Valley near Roswell”—May 27- 
June 22, 1924; on lakes east of Dexter, at the White Lakes and others northeast 
of Roswell—four pairs seen May 3, 1920, at a lake four miles north of Albuquerque, 
also old birds with young at Lake Burford in July, 191G (Ligon). At Lake Burford 
in May, 1918, 15 pairs apparently breeding, and May 27 on Hayden Lake, near by, 
about 40 pairs, apparently migrants, were seen (Wetmore). At Silver City they 
are abundant in spring and fall (Kellogg, 1927); ] noted in spring on theMimbres 
(Henry). 
In the fall migration, they have been seen September 28, 1904, at Lake Burford, 
(Bailey); October 5, 1900, at Albuquerque (Birtwell); several large flocks near 
Koehler Junction, Colfax County, October 19-24, 1913 (Kalmbach); a flock of less 
than a dozen seen at Clayton, October 23, 1893 (Seton); [common in October, 
1917 and 1918 (Leopold)]; seen October 25, 1909, at Las Palomas (Goldman); 
November, 1905, at Turrieta Lake in the San Francisco Mountains near Joseph 
(Andrus); and as late as December 1, 1855, at Dona Ana (Pope). 
In winter on the Carlsbad Reserve it was noted February 18, 1914 (Wilder); 
was reported in January, 1915, and observed in the winter of 1915-16; [100 were 
noted November 23 to December 9,1916, and 500 noted in December, 1916 (Willett). 
A few wintered as far north as San Acadia in 1918 (Leopold).] 
In the spring early migrants were noted at Halls Peak, March 16, 1895 (Bar¬ 
ber); near Albuquerque noted in spring (Woodhouse). On the Mayberry Ranch, 
60 miles west of Magdalena, several were seen April 26, 1915 (Ligon). Several 
flocks were seen near Santa Rosa, May 20 to June 2, 1903 (Bailey), but the fact 
that the birds were in flocks rather than pairs would indicate that these were late 
migrants.—W. W. Cooke. 
Nest. —A depression in the ground, often far from water in dry grass or under 
bushes, or in moist meadowland; lined with grasses or weeds and down (brownish 
with whitish centers). Eggs: 6 to 14, pale olive-buff to greenish gray, like those of 
Mallards and Pintails but smaller. 
Food. —Seeds, tender shoots, and rootlets of aquatic plants, grasses, algae, 
onion bulbs; larvae and pupae of alkali flies; various enemies of fish, as dragon¬ 
fly nymphs, giant water bugs, water scorpions, and crawfish; earth worms, locusts, 
grasshoppers, and other insects, caddice-fly larvae, leeches, tadpoles, brine shrimps, 
and mollusks. 
General Habits. —The Shoveller, Shovel-bill, Broad-bill, or Spoon¬ 
bill can be recognized in any of its various plumages by its wide mouthy 
bill, much wider near tip than base, with highly developed “comb-like 
