Spoonbills

‘A Bill for the Cutlery Drawer’ by GL

Instantly recognisable and strangely beautiful, the spoonbill is a wonderful waterbird. In Victoria we have two species: the Yellow-billed Spoonbill and the Royal Spoonbill (whose bill is black).

Yellow-billed Spoonbill (yellow bill and legs)

Yellow-billed Spoonbill, Platalea flavipes: platalea is Latin for spoonbill and flavus is Latin for golden/yellow. Royal Spoonbill, Platalea regia: regia is Latin for royal.

Royal Spoonbill (black bill and legs, obvious nape-plumes)

The spoon-shaped bill is perfectly suited for its method of feeding which involves wading in shallow water and swishing side to side with the sensitive bill partially open. When something edible is encountered – a fish or frog or pond creature – the bill snaps shut and is lifted so the morsel slides down the long neck.

Feeding technique

I am unaware of any difference between the two species other than the colour of the bill except that the Royal Spoonbill displays some impressive nuchal plumes at the back of its head in the breeding season. Breeding also intensifies the yellow colour of the eyelids and a red forehead patch as this photo shows.

In the last century, the Royal Spoonbill has colonised New Zealand: several thousand now breed regularly where there were none in earlier times.

Royals mating.                    Yellow-billed at nest with young

The Yellow-billed seems the more common in West Gippsland, but both can be found, sometimes together.

Of the many amazing shapes birds’ beaks come in – each one adapted to specialised use – a bill shaped like a yellow or black wooden spoon is certainly one of the strangest.

Geoff Leslie