Common Spoonbills
Spoonbills ... Ibises
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The Common Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) is a wading bird of the ibis and spoonbill family Threskiornithidae, native across southern Eurasia from Spain to Japan, and north Africa. Most birds migrate to the tropics in winter, with European breeders going to Africa, but a few remaining in mild winter areas of western Europe north to the UK.
This species is almost unmistakable through most of its range. The breeding bird is all white except for its dark legs, black bill with a yellow tip, and a yellow breast patch like a pelican. It has a crest in the breeding season. Non-breeders lack the crest and breast patch, and immatures have a pale bill and black tips to the primary flight feathers. Unlike herons, spoonbills fly with their necks outstretched.
The Common Spoonbill differs from the African Spoonbill in that the latter species has a red face and legs, and no crest.
There are three subspecies:
- Platalea leucorodia leucorodia Linnaeus, 1758. All of the range except as below.
- Platalea leucorodia balsaci Islands off the Banc d'Arguin, Mauritania.
- Platalea leucorodia archeri Coasts of the Red Sea and Somalia.
Birds in Asia are sometimes separated as Platalea leucorodia major
Habitat and behaviour
It occurs in marshy wetlands with some open shallow water, nesting in colonies in trees or reedbeds. It does not usually share colonies with storks or herons.
Usually the Common Spoonbill lays four eggs. It feeds on various fish, frogs and other water creatures.
The Common Spoonbill is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.
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