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page.Shoveler
Anas clypeata
The shoveler breeds in eastern, northeastern, central and western Europe. In Scandinavia it occurs only in the southern parts of Sweden and Finland and on the eastern coast of Iceland. In western Europe it is resident or else roams the countryside, whereas birds inhabiting other parts of the continent are migrant, wintering sometimes in western Europe but mostly in the Mediterranean or in Africa as far south as Uganda and Ghana. The shoveler departs for its winter quarters in late August and September, returning at the end of March or in April. It nests on inland lakes and ponds, including quite srnall ones, whether open or bordered with thick vegetation. In May to June the female prepares the nest in a depression among grass, often in a meadow some distance from the water. It is lined with dry vegetation. When the clutch is complete (7 to 12 eggs), she lines and borders the nest with greyish down and then incubates alone for 23 to 25 days though this period may be as short as 21 and as long as 27 days. After the ducklings have hatched, she takes them to shallow water where. they easily find food. At six weeks the ducklings are able to fly. The diet consists of various crustaceans, insect larvae, molluscs, worms, planktons and fragments of aquatic plants, which the bird sieves with its bill. In the autumn it also gathers various seeds.
Click on any of the other bird links, these are Geese Barnacle Goose : Brent Goose : Canada Goose : Greylag Goose
Or on the Ducks: Gadwall : Goldeneye : Goosander : Mallard : Pintail : Pochard : Red Breasted Merganser : Red Crested Pochard : Shellduck : Shoveler : Teal : Tufted Duck : Wigeon
And the rest, in no real order of importance: Common Sandpiper : Coot. : Corncrake : Curlew. : Dunlin : Greenshank : Lapwing : Moorhen : Oystercatcher : Redshank : Ringed Plover : Snipe : Spotted Crake : Stone Curlew : Turnstone : Whimbrel : Woodcock.
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