It may be that the bird has been in Australia for more than a year or two. I wonder if it is the same bird as was at Werribee. On that possibility (and it is
just a guess), it may actually have reset to thinking, or at least its annual timing, to that now is spring, as it is here, and not the autumn that it might think it is if it only arrived from the northern hemisphere recently. I wonder if it could moult from
one breeding plumage to a new breeding plumage, without going into eclipse, if the lighting regime stimulates the change. Just suggesting………
Philip
From: calyptorhynchus . [
Sent: Tuesday, 24 September, 2019 3:06 PM
To: Canberra Birds
Subject: [canberrabirds] Northern Shoveler Eclipse
To answer my own question, this largely takes place during breeding, or at least the replacement of the flight feathers and the flightless phase.
So our northern shoveler won’t be immobile, which could explain why it’s gone missing from the ACT!
--
John Leonard
Canberra
Australia
www.jleonard.net
‘There is kinship between people and all animals. Such is the Law.’ Kimberley lawmen (from Yorro Yorro)
