Northern Shoveler

Northern Shoveler, Anas clypeata, at the Mission River Preserve, San Diego, California. These adorable ducks spend the Winters in San Diego every year and can be easily recognized by their large, shovel-like beaks. They spend their summers throughout North America all the way up through Alaska and Winter in the Southern states down through Mexico. I love the way the feathers on their head glow a deep purple when the sun hits them just right, their big gangly beaks that seems too big for their heads and those funky lemon-yellow eyes.