Ducks and flamingos come together

The lovely fringe of lamellae on the edge of this female Cape shoveler’s beak is a similar filtering mechanism to what is seen in the beaks of flamingos. Shoveler are what we call a 'specialist' bird, using their specialised beak to sieve tasty morsels from the water that other ducks couldn't get. They eat similar food to the flamingo; algae, plant material, crustaceans… and just like the flamingo they collect their dinner by pumping water across their in-built lamellae net using their tongue, scooping up lots of tasty treats.
If you look at the water coming out of from the edge of the flamingo’s beak and from the shoveler’s beak you can genuinely see how clean it is. Their filtering technique is very efficient, and by feeding in this efficient manner the birds can help to reduce the competition they experience from others and hence “rub along” with other species at feeding time without undue competition.