Females have mottled brown, black and white feathers and a blue patch on their wings. The northern shoveler breeds from Alaska east to northern Manitoba and south to California and the Great Lakes region. It winters from Oregon south to California and west across the southern United States and up the east coast to New Jersey. The northern shoveler can be found in marshes and prairie potholes. They need habitats with shallow water with muddy bottoms.
Northern shovelers are filter feeders.
They skim their bill just above the bottom of a pond or lake and suck water into the front of their bills, then they use the comblike teeth on their bills to strain out plants and aquatic animals. They squirt the water out of the sides of their bills. Anas The female lays eight to twelve eggs in a nest made of grass and leaves and lined with down and feathers. The nest is built on the ground under a bush or in tall vegetation. The female incubates the eggs.