Order: Pelecaniformes

Family: Threskiornithidae

 

Size:  up to 70 - 95 cm

Weight: around 1.13 to 1.96 kg

 

Key Features: The distinctively spatulate bill of the Eurasian spoonbill lends this tall, pure white water bird a slightly comical appearance. During the breeding season, adults develop a crest of pointed and drooping plumes, as well as patches of yellow on the upper breast and the tip of the bill. The rest of the bill is black, as are the long legs. The sexes are similar in overall appearance but the male is somewhat larger than the female, with a longer bill and longer legs. Juveniles resemble the non-breeding adults, but have pinkish bills and black tips to the wing feathers.

 

Voice: They are mostly silent. Even at their breeding colonies the main sounds are bill snapping, occasional deep grunting and occasional trumpeting noises.

 

Breeding: Most breeding pairs nest in mono-specific colonies, or mixed species colonies in which they tend to form small mono-specific groups. The nest is a platform of twigs, sticks and other bits of vegetation located on the ground on a small island, or up to five metres above the ground in dense reed, bushes, trees or mangroves. The female usually lays three to four eggs which are incubated for around 24 to 25 days before hatching.

 

Diet: feeds on small fish, aquatic insects, shrimp and other invertebrates but it will also take algae and fragments of aquatic plants, although these may just be accidentally ingested.

 

Habitat: inhabits fresh and saltwater marshes, estuaries, deltas, tidal creeks, rivers, lakes, reservoirs and mangrove swamps.

 

Habits: More northerly breeding populations are fully migratory but may only migrate short distances while other, more southerly populations are resident and nomadic or partially migratory. In the Palearctic the species breeds in spring (e.g. from April) but in tropical parts of its range it times breeding to coincide with rainfall. Breeding is normally in single species colonies or in small single species groups amidst mixed-species colonies of other water birds such as herons, egrets and cormorants. Outside the breeding season Eurasian spoonbills forage singly or in small flocks of up to 100 individuals. Migration is usually conducted in flocks of up to 100 individuals. Most activity takes place during the morning and evening (although in coastal areas it foraging is governed by tidal rhythms), they often roost communally in roosts which are up to 15 km away from the feeding areas.

 

Conservation Status: Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

 

 

 

 

 

References:

del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. and Sargatal, J. (1992) Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Ostrich to Ducks. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

RSPB (July, 2009) http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/s/spoonbill/index.asp

 

Whistler, H. (1963) Popular handbook of Indian birds. Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh.

 

Triplet, P., Overdijk, O., Smart, M., Nagy, S., Schneider-Jacoby, M., Karauz, E.S., Pigniczki, C., Baha El Din, S., Kralj, J., Sandor, A. and Navedo, J.G. (2008) International Single Species Action Plan for the Conservation of the Eurasian Spoonbill Platalea leucorodia. AEWA Technical Series No.35, Bonn, Germany.

 

BirdLife International (2014) Species factsheet: Platalea leucorodia. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on July 04th, 2014.

 

Photo Courtesy

Andreas Trepte, Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons