The New Zealand shoveler (Anas rhynchotis variegata), or kuruwhengi (Maori), is a migrant from Australia today it is classified as a subspecies of the Australasian shoveler. Widespread throughout the North and South Islands, Shovelers mainly occur on large freshwater wetlands but may also be encountered in sheltered estuaries and brackish lakes.

Shovelers are specialist filter-feeding waterfowl with a large spoon-shaped or shovel-shaped bill that is almost twice as broad at its tip than at its base, which is the bird’s most conspicuous feature. Fine lamellae extend along most of the edge of the upper mandible and it is by pushing water through this lamellae curtain that small plankton and fine seeds are extracted.

The New Zealand shoveler is one of the few native birds that is not protected, with about 30,000 birds shot during the duck hunting season each year.