Royal Spoonbill

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Royal Spoonbill

Fogg Dam Conservation Reserve, Australia.

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Ciconiiformes
Family:	Threskiornithidae
Genus:	Platalea
Species:	P. regia

Binomial name

Platalea regia
Gould, 1838

The Royal Spoonbill (Platalea regia), also known as the Black-billed Spoonbill, occurs in intertidal flats and shallows of fresh and saltwater wetlands in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands. It has also been recorded as a vagrant in New Caledonia. The Royal Spoonbill feeds by sweeping its bill from side to side. It always flies with its head extended. Widespread throughout its large range, the Royal Spoonbill is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

1 Description
2 Breeding
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Description

The Royal Spoonbill is a large white bird with a black, spoon-shaped bill. It is a wading bird and has long legs for walking through water. It eats fish and other water animals, such as shellfish, crabs and frogs, catching its prey by making a side-to-side movement with its bill.

[edit] Breeding

When they are breeding, long white plumes grow from the back of their heads and coloured patches appear on the face. The nest is an open platform of sticks in a tree in which the female lays two or three eggs. The chicks hatch after 21 days. The birds are highly sensitive to disturbance in the breeding season. In Australia, whole colonies have been known to desert their eggs after a minor upset.

[edit] References

BirdLife International (2004). Platalea regia. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern