Northern Shoveler Reflection

This Northern Shoveler was photographed during my recent Better than Bosque Workshop in New Mexico. Shovelers spend so much time “shovelling” that getting an image with their bills out of the water is challenging!

When photographing ducks in a pond, I start as low as possible to capture the sweetest low-contrast golden light. As the light becomes more contrasty, I work at higher angles to capture fuller reflections and eliminate bright distractions in the background.

Many of the dabbling ducks use their flat bills to strain food items from the water, but the big spatulate bill of the Northern Shoveler is adapted to take this habit to the extreme. Flocks of shovelers often swim along with their big bills barely submerged in front of them, straining food from the muddy soup of shallow waters.

Northern Shoveler (Spatula clypeata, Canard souchet, NSHO) from my Better than Bosque workshop. Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, San Antonio, New Mexico, USA. Image Copyright ©Christopher Dodds. Sony Alpha a9 III Mirrorless camera & Sony FE 600mm f/4 G Master OSS Lens with Sony FE 2X Teleconverter @1,200mm ISO 1,600, f/8 @ 1/5,000s. Full frame image. Manual exposure.

Northern Shoveler Portrait

During my recent Better than Bosque workshop in New Mexico, we had a ton of fun with the ducks in Albuquerque. The water was perfect for reflections of the various species of ducks that came close.

Northern Shoveler Portrait (Spatula clypeata, Canard souchet, NSHO) from today while scouting for my Better than Bosque workshop. Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. Image Copyright ©Christopher Dodds. Sony Alpha alpha 1 Mirrorless camera & Sony FE 600mm f/4 G Master OSS Lens with Sony FE 2X Teleconverter @1,200mm ISO 2,000, f/8 @ 1/5,000s. Manual exposure. Full frame image.

Check-out a flying Northern Shoveler from last year:

Click the image to see a Northern Shoveler in flight from last year.

Northern Shoveler Landing

I’ve been scouting for my Best of Bosque workshop and this year is looking like it will be off the charts! Here’s a Northern Shoveler from earlier today while catching up with old friends Doug and Kristin Brown on the side of the pond. Who would have thought my first post of the trip would be a Shoveler? I’ve had some epic opportunities with Geese, Cranes, Harriers and Red-tailed hawks :)

Northern Shoveler

A non-breeding drake (male) Northern Shoveler from my Best of Bosque workshop last December. Many of the dabbling ducks use their flat bills to strain food items from the water, but the big spatulate bill of the Northern Shoveler is adapted to take this habit to the extreme. Flocks of shovelers often swim along with their big bills barely submerged in front of them, straining food from the muddy soup of shallow waters.