Northern Shoveler

Description: 17-20" Large shovel-shaped bill, male has green head, white body, and chestnut flanks, female mottled brown with pale blue shoulder patches, similar to female Blue-winged Teal, but much larger bill	Habitat: Shallow, freshwater marshes , wetlands, ponds, prairie sloughs, lakes with vegetation and slow-flowing muddy creeks. In winter, also found on brackish lagoons, bays and tidal mudflats. More common west of the Mississippi River.
Nesting: 8-12 pale buff or greenish eggs in a down-lined cup of grass concealed in vegetation often some distance from water	Range: breeds from Alaska east to Manitoba, winters across southern portion of US
Voice: low croak, cluck or quack	Diet: Aquatic vegetation, especially plankton; snails, clams, aquatic insects. Feeds primarily by straining small plants and animals from water's surface through comb-like edge of bill; also feeds along mudflat margins

Notes: When swimming, rides low in front with bill held down, one of earliest fall migrants

When present in Oklahoma: present in winter, spotty in summer, usually found then in panhandle