Outdoor Ontario

Request for Information => Bird ID => Topic started by: BetCrooks on December 05, 2015, 04:59:25 PM

Title: Mallard with over-grown bill, or Shoveller?
Post by: BetCrooks on December 05, 2015, 04:59:25 PM

If I saw this bird in spring in a flooded field near 8th Line and Britannia with its mate I'd say it was a Shoveller. But this one was in a "duck pond" at JC Saddington park in Mississauga (near the Lake) with a large group of 20+ mallards.

Is it a Shoveller? Or a Mallard weighed down by an over-sized bill? Or something else I haven't even considered? Opinions are welcome!

[attachment=0:3kwpwxmm]PossibleShovellerorOvergrownBillMallard.jpg[/attachment:3kwpwxmm]

Title: Re: Mallard with over-grown bill, or Shoveller?
Post by: Kevin H. on December 05, 2015, 07:23:44 PM

Hen Shoveler

Title: Re: Mallard with over-grown bill, or Shoveller?
Post by: Paul O'Toole on December 05, 2015, 08:11:53 PM

Yep, Hen shoveller it is. The females plumage is pretty similar to a female mallard.

Title: Re: Mallard with over-grown bill, or Shoveller?
Post by: BetCrooks on December 06, 2015, 12:26:59 PM

Thanks for the confirmation. It was a very odd place to see a Shoveller: a landlocked duck pond filled with bread-fed Mallards and Canada Geese that's only a few feet deep and constantly passed by foot traffic including dogs. Anywhere more wild I would have been confident it was a Shoveller, but it just seemed like such an unlikely spot to see one up close. So thanks again!

Title: Re: Mallard with over-grown bill, or Shoveller?
Post by: Reuven_M on December 06, 2015, 02:26:57 PM

I've seen Wood Duck, Bufflehead, Hooded Merganser, Redhead etc. in that pond, you just never know!