{"id":35189,"date":"2016-02-02T06:04:43","date_gmt":"2016-02-02T13:04:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=35189"},"modified":"2025-05-17T12:24:41","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T17:24:41","slug":"whirlpool-of-feeding-northern-shovelers-on-the-great-salt-lake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/02\/02\/whirlpool-of-feeding-northern-shovelers-on-the-great-salt-lake\/","title":{"rendered":"Whirlpool of Feeding Northern Shovelers on the Great Salt Lake"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WhirlpoolWhirlpool of feeding Northern Shovelers – Nikon D810, f16, 1\/500, ISO 500, -1.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

During the non-breeding season Northern Shovelers are not as territorial as they are during the breeding season and there are times here in Utah that I see huge rafts of Northern Shovelers out on the water at Farmington Bay and on the Great Salt Lake from the causeway to Antelope Island<\/span><\/a>. In those rafts the numbers of individual shovelers can be in the hundreds to thousands.<\/p>\n

During the winter I often see them feeding as a group near the second bridge on the causeway to Antelope Island and occasionally I see them spinning either clockwise or counter clockwise in a tight group which then forms a whirlpool effect that brings the food to the center of the flock. It is interesting to see this whirlpool effect of Northern Shovelers on the surface of the Great Salt Lake and to hear the sounds of their bills dabbling in the water. I photographed this “whirlpool” of shovelers last week from the causeway to the island because I wanted to capture this feeding behavior.<\/p>\n

The shovelers may be feeding on plankton in the lake or they might be feeding on the eggs of the brine shrimp. I can’t be certain and I’d rather say I don’t know than speculate without the facts.<\/p>\n

\"FemaleFemale Northern Shoveler close up – Nikon D200, f6.3, 1\/1000, ISO 320, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Northern Shovelers are dabbling ducks with large, elongated, spatulated bills that have comblike structures called\u00a0lamellae along the lateral sides of their bills that are used to strain their food from the water. In this image of a hen Northern Shoveler photographed at Farmington Bay WMA the black comblike lamellae can be seen on the side of her bill. It is more difficult to see the lamellae of the males because their bills are as dark as the lamellae.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good. Life is better with birds.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Northern Shoveler photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is interesting to see this whirlpool effect of Northern Shovelers on the surface of the Great Salt Lake and to hear the sounds of their bills dabbling in the water.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":144484,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[511,27,1022,697,429,26],"tags":[4004,5313,4142,4907,4717,1129,126,472,4040,4228,4070,4247,4005,4359,5178,4905,4906,4094,1137,11553,4046,11551,11552,6968,4903,11554,3996,2063,4095,4904],"class_list":["post-35189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-northern-shovelers","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-brine-shrimp","tag-close-up","tag-comblike","tag-dabbling-ducks","tag-duck","tag-ducks-2","tag-eggs","tag-feeding","tag-feeding-behavior","tag-female","tag-flock","tag-great-salt-lake","tag-hen","tag-lake","tag-lamellae","tag-large-bills","tag-marsh","tag-northern-shoveler","tag-plankton","tag-portrait","tag-raft","tag-rafts","tag-shoveler","tag-shovelers","tag-spatulated","tag-water","tag-waterfowl","tag-wetlands","tag-whirlpool"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-shovelers-feeding-mia-mcpherosn-9408.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-99z","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"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":35189,"position":0},"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 "Antelope Island State Park"","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":76347,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/12\/21\/northern-shovelers-feeding-on-glover-pond\/","url_meta":{"origin":35189,"position":1},"title":"Northern Shovelers Feeding On Glover Pond","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 21, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Early in December while at Farmington Bay WMA I was able to photograph and take videos of Northern Shovelers feeding on Glover Pond.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Feeding Northern Shovelers, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-shovelers-feeding-mia-mcpherson-7147.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-feeding-mia-mcpherson-7147.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-shovelers-feeding-mia-mcpherson-7147.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/northern-shovelers-feeding-mia-mcpherson-7147.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":137772,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/12\/12\/hen-and-drake-northern-shovelers-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":35189,"position":2},"title":"Hen And Drake Northern Shovelers At Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 12, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Some areas of Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge were very ducky yesterday. These hen and drake Northern Shovelers were among the dabbling ducks I found.","rel":"","context":"In "Northern Shovelers"","block_context":{"text":"Northern Shovelers","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/ducks\/northern-shovelers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hen and drake Northern Shovelers at Sequoyah NWR, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/northern-shovelers-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-7486.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/northern-shovelers-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-7486.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/northern-shovelers-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-7486.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/northern-shovelers-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-7486.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":35189,"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 "Birds"","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":97768,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/11\/29\/remembering-higher-water-in-the-great-salt-lake\/","url_meta":{"origin":35189,"position":4},"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 "Antelope Island State Park"","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":[]},{"id":42354,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/10\/02\/northern-shoveler-drake-and-hen\/","url_meta":{"origin":35189,"position":5},"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 "Birds"","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":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35189","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=35189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}