{"id":137772,"date":"2024-12-12T03:03:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T09:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=137772"},"modified":"2024-12-12T03:03:00","modified_gmt":"2024-12-12T09:03:00","slug":"hen-and-drake-northern-shovelers-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/12\/12\/hen-and-drake-northern-shovelers-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge\/","title":{"rendered":"Hen And Drake Northern Shovelers At Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Some areas of Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge were very ducky yesterday. These hen and drake Northern Shovelers were among the dabbling ducks I found.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-137769 size-full\" title=\"Hen and drake Northern Shovelers at Sequoyah NWR\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/northern-shovelers-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-7486.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/northern-shovelers-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-7486.jpg\" alt=\"Hen and drake Northern Shovelers at Sequoyah NWR, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20643%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/northern-shovelers-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-7486-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/northern-shovelers-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-7486-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/northern-shovelers-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-7486-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/northern-shovelers-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-7486-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/northern-shovelers-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-7486-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/northern-shovelers-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-7486-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/northern-shovelers-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-7486-800x572.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/northern-shovelers-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-7486.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Hen and drake Northern Shovelers at Sequoyah NWR \u2013 Canon R7, f8, 1\/1000, ISO 800, +0.7 EV, Canon 100-400mm at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I was surprised, though, that none of the male Northern Shovelers I saw were in their breeding plumage. The drakes I found were in eclipse plumage. The male in the photo above is on the left\u2014you can tell by his black bill. In Utah, at this time of year, most of the drakes I saw were in breeding plumage.<\/p>\n<p>Northern Shovelers are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/guide\/Northern_Shoveler\/maps-range\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">not year-round residents here<\/span><\/a>; they are present during the coldest months of the year. That will take me some time to get used to.<\/p>\n<p>It was great to see so many different species of dabbling ducks yesterday at the refuge. I did think it was strange to not see any diving ducks among them.<\/p>\n<p>Every time I go to the refuge, I learn something new. That? Is always a good thing.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good,<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/northern-shoveler-images\/\">here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Northern Shoveler photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some areas of Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge were very ducky yesterday. These hen and drake Northern Shovelers were among the dabbling ducks I found. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":137769,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[429,13973,13974],"tags":[970,13984,4717,4483,2113,4620,4070,4359,4062,1137,16008,6968,4903,975,1283,3996,2063,4095],"class_list":["post-137772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-northern-shovelers","category-oklahoma","category-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge","tag-autumn","tag-bottomlands","tag-dabbling-ducks","tag-drake","tag-eclipse-plumage","tag-fall","tag-female","tag-hen","tag-male","tag-northern-shoveler","tag-sequoyah-nwr","tag-shoveler","tag-shovelers","tag-spatula-clypeata","tag-swimming","tag-water","tag-waterfowl","tag-wetlands"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/northern-shovelers-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-7486.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-zQ8","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":126291,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/03\/28\/drake-northern-shoveler-and-american-coot\/","url_meta":{"origin":137772,"position":0},"title":"Drake Northern Shoveler And American Coot","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 28, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"This drake Northern Shoveler swam past me on my last trip up to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. I couldn't resist taking photos of him. Why would I want to?","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Coots&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Coots","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gruiformes\/american-coots\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Drake Northern Shoveler swimming by, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-shoveler-drake-marsh-mia-mcpherson-0987.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-shoveler-drake-marsh-mia-mcpherson-0987.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-shoveler-drake-marsh-mia-mcpherson-0987.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-shoveler-drake-marsh-mia-mcpherson-0987.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":42354,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/10\/02\/northern-shoveler-drake-and-hen\/","url_meta":{"origin":137772,"position":1},"title":"Northern Shoveler Drake and Hen","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This beautiful Northern Shoveler drake in breeding plumage was photographed in one of those no hunting areas on New Years Day 2015 at Farmington Bay.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dapper looking Northern Shoveler drake at Farmington Bay WMA, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-shoveler-male-mia-mcpherson-0874.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-shoveler-male-mia-mcpherson-0874.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-shoveler-male-mia-mcpherson-0874.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-shoveler-male-mia-mcpherson-0874.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":32332,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/11\/10\/a-flock-of-northern-shovelers-feeding-on-the-great-salt-lake\/","url_meta":{"origin":137772,"position":2},"title":"Flock of Northern Shovelers feeding on the Great Salt Lake","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 10, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Last December on the way off of Antelope Island I saw huge flocks of Northern Shovelers feeding on the Great Salt Lake and liked how they appeared through my viewfinder.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antelope Island State Park&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Flock of Northern Shovelers feeding on the Great Salt Lake. Males in breeding and eclipse plumage along with females","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-shovelers-mia-mcpherson-7905.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-shovelers-mia-mcpherson-7905.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-shovelers-mia-mcpherson-7905.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-shovelers-mia-mcpherson-7905.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":97664,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/11\/26\/drake-northern-shoveler-landing-on-a-chilly-pond\/","url_meta":{"origin":137772,"position":3},"title":"Drake Northern Shoveler Landing On A Chilly Pond","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 26, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning I am sharing a simple photo of a drake Northern Shoveler landing on a chilly pond that I took in early December of last year.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Drake Northern Shoveler landing on a pond, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/northern-shoveler-drake-landing-mia-mcpherson-7223.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/northern-shoveler-drake-landing-mia-mcpherson-7223.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/northern-shoveler-drake-landing-mia-mcpherson-7223.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/northern-shoveler-drake-landing-mia-mcpherson-7223.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":86332,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/04\/29\/drake-northern-shoveler-in-flight\/","url_meta":{"origin":137772,"position":4},"title":"Drake Northern Shoveler In Flight","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"It isn't easy to photograph some birds on the wing so I was thrilled yesterday to photograph a drake Northern Shoveler in flight.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Drake Northern Shoveler in flight, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/northern-shoveler-drake-in-flight-mia-mcpherson-1831.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/northern-shoveler-drake-in-flight-mia-mcpherson-1831.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/northern-shoveler-drake-in-flight-mia-mcpherson-1831.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/northern-shoveler-drake-in-flight-mia-mcpherson-1831.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":97768,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/11\/29\/remembering-higher-water-in-the-great-salt-lake\/","url_meta":{"origin":137772,"position":5},"title":"Remembering Higher Water In The Great Salt Lake","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I came across this photo of a Green-winged Teal with Northern Shovelers in the surf of the Great Salt Lake that I took in December of 2011 yesterday. It was a punch in the gut.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antelope Island State Park&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Green-winged Teal with Northern Shovelers in the surf of the Great Salt Lake, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/green-winged-teal-northern-shoveler-great-salt-lake-mia-mcpherson-3134.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/green-winged-teal-northern-shoveler-great-salt-lake-mia-mcpherson-3134.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/green-winged-teal-northern-shoveler-great-salt-lake-mia-mcpherson-3134.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/green-winged-teal-northern-shoveler-great-salt-lake-mia-mcpherson-3134.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}