Hello,
Last week I saw a group of birds at Saltholme doing something which I have never seen before.
The birds involved were Shoveler ducks. There have been at least 60 of them on the pool at Haverton recently and it was here that I observed a large group packed tightly together, spiralling round in a circle.
Team Shoveler in action.
My initial thoughts were that there must have been a lot of food in this small patch of the lake. Another theory I had was that, since shovelers use their oversized beaks like a sieve to filter food, by working as a team the movement of all the birds together may cause a greater current to form in the water which would disturb more food. A quick search on the internet showed that I'm not the only one to have observed this fantastic behaviour. Most people seem to think that a nice bit of shoveler team work helps them to capture more food, so my second guess could well be right.
Has anyone else seen behaviour like this?
Cheers,
Adam