Northern Shoveler, Pegasus, Canterbury.

[AngryBird45]

Possibly just saw it at the northern end of the wetlands associating with male shovelers. The head was certainly different from other shovelers and looked greenish.

[Adam C]

Bird was in the Southern Pond at 3pm this afternoon along with great views of a Bittern. Angrybird you cant miss it when you see it! It took me ages to find today though as had checked north end and south pond twice. Finally popped out!

[FraserGurney]

Northern Shoveler was feeding at the southern end of the main Pegasus Wetland pond this afternoon. There was also a white heron at the edge of the pond and across SH1 at Kesteven Place 14 black-fronted dotterel were feeding in a flooded paddock at the end of the wetland.

[andrewcrossland]

That’s super interesting about the B/F Dotterels. Sounds like almost the entire Waipara river breeding population gathered there,

[FraserGurney]

Pretty cool to see, it's perfect habitat for them at the moment

[Micah Pomare]

Hey guys I saw this northern shoveler. It was a male with a group of Australasian shovelers, I saw it a couple of weeks ago.

[AngryBird45]

OK, I realised I got it wrong. Saw the bird on Friday with the flock on the southern pond. Attached you can see a photo with the red spot marking where the Shoveler is.

P.S. Where is the bittern?

[AngryBird45]

UPDATE: Latest sighting of the Northern Shoveler on 26 June, in the same spot. Unfortunately didn’t find it yesterday, could’ve been an oversight or the shoveler could have been at the northern end.

[andrewcrossland]

Hi team, any recent sightings of this bird? Once lockdown finishes it'll be worthwhile trying to track down Northern Shovelers around the country to see if ay are paired up (with Northern Shoveler females if any are here, or NZ Shoveler females?). If these birds switch to a Southern Hemisphere moult cycle then like White-winged Black Tern, there's a slight chance of breeding I would have thought?

[Bev Alexander]

Hi All,
Saw the male Northern Shoveler at Pegasus this morning. It was on the same pond as first seen last year.( 0n the north side of the road to the Beach.). Where has it been since last year??
Happy birding.