Northern Shoveler Female Kids T-Shirt

This painting shows a female Northern Shoveler (Spatula clypeata), in the process of raising one foot to stand in the typical one-legged resting pose. As is usual in birds that show “sexual dimorphism”, meaning distinct differences between male and female, the male is more colourful than the female. But that fact risks detracting us from the more subtle and intricate patterning and colour blending to be found in the plumage of the female. In this painting I focused entirely on the hen bird, so beautiful in her own right. I will do a more “traditional” treatment showing the pair, some other time. This species of shoveler nests over a vast range in the northern and temperate latitudes of the northern hemisphere, although some spend the winter as far south as subtropical and even tropical regions. There are related species in the southern hemisphere, which is why we call it the “northern” shoveler, but in the U.K. it is just called the shoveler. They are obviously...