Shoveler on Lake Kittamaqundi in Columbia

[Clayton Koonce]

A northern shoveler has been on Lake Kittamaqundi (Columbia, Howard County) since last Saturday afternoon (when it was reported on eBird by another birder). It is not a first documentation but still unusual on this lake. I've been seeing him daily, and lately he is associating with three ruddy ducks, joined occasionally by a pied-billed grebe. Lake K. is not very deep, with maximum depth indicated as 7 feet, and late in the summer a surge of aquatic weed and mats of algae clog the water. Columbia Association's water weed eaters regularly patrol the lake but can't quite keep up with the growth. These conditions must be attractive to these birds, which like to dive and dabble among the vegetation.

Attached photos: the shoveler with one of the ruddies yesterday; a bigger water weed eater new on the lake in September.