Northern Shoveler ducks belong to the species Anas clypeata in the family Anatidae. The distinguishing feature of this species is the large spoon-shaped bill. The male in breeding plumage has a blackish head trimmed with iridescent green which is visible when the light is right. His bill is black and his feet are orange. Females have orange feet and orange bills. The female, as you can see, is brown and white mottled to make her hard to find by predators. Did you notice the difference in eye color?

In this image, you can see the reddish brown bellies of the 3 males, their white under-wings, their gray-blue upper wing patch, and their iridescent green specula on the trailing edges of the wings. These colorful markings and their long bills make it easy to identify these birds in flight.

In this image, you can see 2 females and a male dabbling for their dinner. These ducks use their bills to filter food from the bottom mud of the wetlands where they live or visit. In this photo, these ducks were on open water adjacent to a marsh.

In the last image, you can see 2 males and a female shoveler busily sluicing water through their beaks they have filled with mud. They wash away the mud by opening and closing their beaks and the channels in the beak trap plant and small animals that they eat.

We get to see Shovelers in Texas during the winter when they migrate in from colder places to visit until spring. Beautiful ducks!

I rarely have seen this species in large groups,  at most 4 to 10 individuals would travel around the places I look for waterfowl. They are much larger than the mallards which folks mistake them for. They are interesting to watch if you can get close enough. I shot these images with a 300mm lens from some distance away and I have enlarged portions of these images I used to make the images you see here. Someday, I will be able to afford longer lenses but they are usually heavy and require a tripod. I try to keep my gear light and mobile so I can move readily to capture something interesting.

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Here there are two male and two female Gadwall ducks visible. The males are in their breeding plumage of brown, grey and black and look very different from their female counterparts who are mottled brown to help camouflage them from predators.

In this image, you can see the fine mottling on the male’s breast and the brown cap he wears with his black beak. These patterns are hard to see at a distance but they are very striking seen close up.

Here you can see Gadwalls leaping into the air from the surface of the water. Notice the white underwing patches and the white specula on the trailing edges of the wings. Males and females show these characters. The Gadwalls belong to the species Anas strepera in the family Anatidae. They spend the winter throughout Texas and migrate north about May.

This image shows a male Gadwall landing. They position their wings and tail to slow their forward motion and land upon their extended feet which act like water-skis for a short distance while they settle to the surface of the water. Notice the white feathers on the margin of the black tail, another characteristic of this species. Also, males and females have yellow feet

Sometimes, Gadwalls are just in the right place to make a beautiful image.

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Blue-winged Teal, also known as Anas discors, are members of the subfamily Anatinae, the surface feeding ducks. They are sometimes known as Puddle, or dabbling ducks and they make their living on shallow  ponds, rivers, lakes and marshes by swimming along the surface looking for food. They will dip their head and neck under the water to reach food, often times up-ending themselves. Only rarely, will they completely submerge. Thus, the term dabbling ducks.

Most of the members of the subfamily Anatinae are sexually dimorphic which means that males and females look different in terms of their morphology (physical characteristics). Males also have two sets of feathers, one which they wear during mating season and one which they wear during the rest of the year called the eclipse plumage. All of this complicates field identification as you might imagine.

In the picture above, you see a female Blue-winged Teal on the left and a male on the right. The male is in his breeding plumage and is easily distinguished from other ducks by the white stripe between his black beak and his eyes. Note the dab of grayish mud on his beak tip. The brown and white mottling of the feathers along the side and the white patch just in front the dark tail feathers are also useful characters. The male’s head looks black in this photo but can appear very dark blue when the light and angle of reflection is right. Notice that the tips of their tails are out of the water which is characteristic of all members of this subfamily.

In the second image, you can see a male Blue-winged Teal on the left and a female on the right. His white crescent in front of the eye and white rump patch are clearly visible. Both ducks have large patches of grey-blue color on the upperside of each wing. In brighter light, this patch can appear almost white tinged with light blue. As you might have guessed, this species is named for this character.

In the the third and last picture, two males are flying with a female between them. Note the colors under the wing in both sexes and notice the differences between breast and belly on males and females. Finally, most members of the subfamily Anatinae have a special group of feathers on the trailing edge of the upper wing feathers. This patch of feathers is referred to as the speculum which means a shiny or mirror-like surface. The feathers of the speculum in blue-winged teal are an irridescent green that you can see on the rightmost duck. In brighter light, the speculum appears as a shiny emerald green and is quite striking.

Blue-winged teal can be seen throughout most of the U.S. and Canada at different times of the year. They migrate through Texas on their way to Northern South America. Some of them over-winter in Texas, and sometimes they reproduce here too.
They are beautiful birds to see, and hard to approach without a blind or some kind of cover to conceal you. The ones I photographed in flight were spooked by me getting too close for their comfort. This is where field biologists learn about fight or flight distances.

If you love ducks like I do, you might like to read a book by Paul A. Johnsgard called Ducks, Geese, and Swans of the World. The 2010 Revised, electronic edition is available from University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries as a Portable Document Format (pdf) file downloadable for free. This is a thorough, solid reference with lots of ink illustrations and informative text. It will give some of you younger folk a taste of what scientific papers were like before the days of cheaply produced color photographs and digital downloads. Also, there are lots of other works by Dr. Johnsgard posted for free access. An education free for downloading. Thanks to Dr. Johnsgard and the University of Nebraska for making these available.

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