About a week ago I spotted this lone duck on my pond. From his large spatula-like bill, I knew the duck to be a Northern Shoveler, but that's where my expertise stopped. Was this a male or female? I didn't know.
At once I sought my well-worn Peterson's guide to decide the issue, only to find this venerable source silent on the physical characteristic presented me. For instance, based on Peterson's descriptions, this duck looked neither like a male nor a female.
If you're a serious birder then you're probably a few steps ahead of me. And members of a Facebook birding group pointed the way. The answer is evident: this is a duck in "eclipse" plumage, that which follows the spring and summer breeding plumage. Thus, in the fall, the male's distinctive breeding plumage--including his iridescent dark green head, black and white body with chestnut (or rufous) belly and flanks--molts away to a more muted appearance overall, as suggested in this blurry, distant shot.
Pleased with the solution to my mystery, I sought images online of Northern Shovelers--males, females, males in eclipse plumage--and found more distinctive physical traits to confirm the identification, as with this (from Wikipedia): "In early fall the male will have a white crescent on each side of the face."
Also from All About Birds (Cornell Lab of Ornithology's web site), I read that the male has yellow eyes and the female brown. Once again a clear match. But only one detail yet confuses me. The male, in whatever plumage, is said to have a gray bill, while this duck's bill is obviously orange--a trait of the female. However . . . on reading posts to various birding sites, I've found instances where bill coloration (gray male; orange-tipped, female) does not hold.
So in the final analysis--yes, there's a lot of analysis in birding--I pronounce this duck a male Northern Shoveler in eclipse plumage.
Till next time . . . Keep birds in your heart!
Georgia Anne
