Northern shoveler, Nelson WTP

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Ian Southey
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Re: Northern shoveler, Nelson WTP

Postby Ian Southey » Mon Jun 18, 2018 9:48 am

Sorry if I was not clear but I'm specifically inquiring about the Nelson bird.

Ian
andrewcrossland
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Re: Northern shoveler, Nelson WTP

Postby andrewcrossland » Mon Jun 18, 2018 10:09 am

Crappy photos yes, but just as an initial comparison to the Nelson bird these are the 2 birds at lake ellesmere yesterday.

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Amber Calman
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Re: Northern shoveler, Nelson WTP

Postby Amber Calman » Mon Jun 18, 2018 2:41 pm

He was at the Nelson Sewage ponds at 11:20 this morning, roosting when we arrived with his bright white chest showing.
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Image

There was a couple of other white-ish chested birds that do stand-out but he stands out a lot more.
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I also scanned for females but they would be very hard to see, I've got lots of photos to check though.
(*)> Amber Calman, Age 15
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sav
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Re: Northern shoveler, Nelson WTP

Postby sav » Mon Jun 18, 2018 8:56 pm

Hi all,

Brilliant stuff. A couple of questions and observations from me. I'm travelling without any of my reference material:

Is there anything in the plumage to separate North American from European/Asian Northern Shovelers? With the small number that are ever seen in Aus, I wonder if ours might have come from the "other" direction?

Females? Of course they are much harder (though not impossible) to pin down, but for pretty much any species prone to vagrancy it is (normally young) males that are the most likely. So there may well be females here as well, but not necessarily so.

I'm in Britain at the moment, and just for the record all the Northern Shovelers that I have seen in the past couple of weeks (and there are lots here!) are well past the pristine plumage of any of these drakes - so I think Ian's comment above about Northern/Southern hemisphere moult cycles is probably redundant.

For those of British origin this might be interesting: I went to RSPB Burton Mere on the Wirral, where 400 (four hundred!) Little Egrets roost!! Best bird there for me was flowering Bee Orchids!

cheers
Sav Saville
Wrybill Birding Tours, NZ
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Steve Wood
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Re: Northern shoveler, Nelson WTP

Postby Steve Wood » Sat Jun 23, 2018 5:36 pm

Bird still present at 15:00 hrs
Rebecca Bowater
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Re: Northern shoveler, Nelson WTP

Postby Rebecca Bowater » Sat Jun 30, 2018 8:58 pm

This Northern Shoveler is still at the Nelson WTP this morning
Rebecca Bowater Sat 30th June 2018
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Nikki McArthur
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Re: Northern shoveler, Nelson WTP

Postby Nikki McArthur » Wed Oct 10, 2018 11:36 am

Rebecca Bowater's just emailed me to report that she's spotted the Northern shoveler at the Nelson WTP again this morning. As far as I know it hasn't been spotted since Rebecca's last sighting on 30th June
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sav
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Re: Northern shoveler, Nelson WTP

Postby sav » Wed Oct 10, 2018 12:13 pm

Hi Nikki,

Can you ask her what plumage it has now? I'm trying to get my head around why these birds have all (so far) been in breeding plumage.

cheers
Sav Saville
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Nikki McArthur
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Re: Northern shoveler, Nelson WTP

Postby Nikki McArthur » Wed Oct 10, 2018 1:06 pm

Hi Sav,

Rebecca's just sent through a photo she took of the bird she saw this morning:

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Cheers,
Nikki
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sav
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Re: Northern shoveler, Nelson WTP

Postby sav » Wed Oct 10, 2018 1:14 pm

Thanks Nikki. So can anyone explain how this plumage works? And anyone who knows about cameras tell me why it has a blue head in this photo??

cheers
Sav Saville
Wrybill Birding Tours, NZ
Great Birds, Real Birders

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