Northern shoveler - Lake Elterwater

Bird sighting information. Use this forum to report bird sightings (especially rare and unusual birds), census and field count results, and trip reports. Messages posted to this forum will also be sent as a plain text email to the BIRDING-NZ newsgroup.
Paul Gibson
Posts: 263
Joined: Tue Jul 30, 2013 9:49 am
Location: Whanganui

Northern shoveler - Lake Elterwater

Postby Paul Gibson » Sun Sep 29, 2019 3:06 pm

Just called briefly at Lake Elterwater, South of Blenheim, and photographed what I believe is a Northern Shoveler. Was associating with Australasian Shovelers.
20190929_141736.jpg
20190929_141736.jpg (591.7 KiB) Viewed 2582 times
User avatar
AlanShaw
Posts: 180
Joined: Thu Oct 29, 2009 9:40 am
Location: Kaikoura

Re: Northern shoveler - Lake Elterwater

Postby AlanShaw » Tue Oct 01, 2019 4:15 am

Quite right Paul, that is a fine drake Northern Shoveller! Hope it stays till I'm back in Kaikoura in late October.
User avatar
sav
Posts: 929
Joined: Fri Jul 03, 2009 9:49 am
Location: Havelock North
Contact:

Re: Northern shoveler - Lake Elterwater

Postby sav » Tue Oct 15, 2019 8:36 pm

Hi all,

The drake Northern Shoveler was present this afternoon with about 30 Aus Shovelers. No sign of the Hoary-headed Grebes, but one NZ Grebe was there.

cheers
Sav Saville
Wrybill Birding Tours, NZ
Great Birds, Real Birders
User avatar
David Riddell
Posts: 959
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2009 3:46 pm

Re: Northern shoveler - Lake Elterwater

Postby David Riddell » Fri Oct 25, 2019 5:34 pm

Freezing cold wind driving up the lake this afternoon, two rafts of shovelers bobbing up and down on the waves (43 in total), appearing and disappearing. Went through them all carefully but no northern among them. Did see Sav's dabchick and 3 great crested grebes but no hoary-heads. At least with the temperature there was no heat haze to contend with.
User avatar
ourspot
Posts: 349
Joined: Wed Jun 01, 2016 10:24 pm
Location: Tutukaka Coast

Re: Northern shoveler - Lake Elterwater

Postby ourspot » Thu Nov 21, 2019 3:53 pm

Had 3 visits to Lake Elterwater with my son Zef during the last week with great views of the stunning Northern Shoveler each time. It was feeding not too far out from the platform, then would drifted off to right and slowly make it's way back. On the third visit (early in the morning) it was roosting right by the platform with loads of other shovelers. Great to finally see it up close.
Northern Shoveler_Lake Elterwater_Nov19_FB_IMG_8756.jpg
Northern Shoveler_Lake Elterwater_Nov19_FB_IMG_8756.jpg (479.11 KiB) Viewed 2079 times
Northern Shoveler_Lake Elterwater_Nov19_FB_IMG_8709.jpg
Northern Shoveler_Lake Elterwater_Nov19_FB_IMG_8709.jpg (391.47 KiB) Viewed 2079 times
Northern Shoveler_Lake Elterwater_Nov19_FB_IMG_8761.jpg
Northern Shoveler_Lake Elterwater_Nov19_FB_IMG_8761.jpg (434.19 KiB) Viewed 2079 times
User avatar
Adam C
Posts: 647
Joined: Mon May 30, 2011 8:58 am

Re: Northern shoveler - Lake Elterwater

Postby Adam C » Thu Nov 21, 2019 3:58 pm

Great pics! Northern Shovs are stunning birds!
“Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.”

Samuel Ullman

Return to “Bird Sightings and Alerts”