Shoveler duck behaviour

[nikolai_avenger]

Hello..

Just wondering if anyone could shed any light on some shoveler duck behaviour I witnessed yesterday at Attenborough Nature Reserve. A group of about 30-40 drakes were feeding in very shallow water (I would estimate no more than 20-25 cms), but they were all together in a very tight group and moving along the pond in a manner similar to that of feeding pelicans.

Although I have spent quite a lot of time watching shoveler duck I have never seen this particular behaviour before and I am not sure exactly why they would do it. In other bird species e.g. pelicans, I know it is because they are 'herding' the fish, so to speak, yet as far as I know shoveler do not particularly eat fish, and I doubt that there were any fish to be had in the water as it was very shallow. In any case, the ducks continued this behaviour for a good hour or so, and in roughly the same 20-30 square yards of pond.

Only other thing I can think of is that they were all together for insulation / warmth reasons but even so I have never seen it before now.

Any ideas welcomed..!


Cheers. Nik.

[Gill Catton]

There was a thread about this last year I think when someone saw them swimming in a tight circle. I think it helps churn up the water which then helps them to filter more from it and perhaps draw up food items from lower than they would otherwise reach.

mum and dad used to have a circular swimming pool in the garden and I remember as a child me and my pals running around in a circle together in the water and indeed the more of us running together the more powerful the created current became so I can see how it might work.

[thebeard]

i noticed this when i went there in the snow last week. i presumed it was to keep warm as it was very cold, and hadn't seen this before either. i think the suggestion that its to mix up the water to feed more efficiently could be the winner though. i suppose in those wintry conditions its best to feed all together as a team and put anything else aside, survival is key!

got a rubbish photo of it too

[nikolai_avenger]

Yep, that's the one!

Looking good for the 'churning' explanation then. Makes sense to me. Very interesting to watch, and like I say, not something I have noted before.

Thanks Gill, Beard.



Cheers. Nik.

[RoyW]

I've only seen Shoveler doing this in large groups during cold weather, usually when the number of available feeding areas was restricted by ice.

It's not unusual to see pairs, or small groups spinning around each other in a similar way though. One reason why the behaviour isn't noticed very often is that most of the time when you see Shoveler they are fast asleep!

[thebeard]

haha! thats true of most ducks really!

i've noticed shovelers doing the spinny thing before on their own, just sit there spinning around for ages, they reminded me of penguins when they were grouped up like this.