Yellow-billed Spoonbill
Platalea flavipes
Large dull-white bird with a long, spoon-shaped bill. Plumage often appears dirty. Diagnostic yellow facial skin, legs, and bill. Feeds singly or in small flocks. Submerges bill and makes a sweeping motion to capture prey. Found in a wide variety of freshwater habitats; rarely in marine environments.
Identification
Measuring around 90 cm (35.5 in), the yellow-billed spoonbill has all white plumage. The long spoon-shaped bill, bare-skinned face, legs and feet are all yellow, while the iris is pale yellow. The sexes are similar in plumage and coloration. In the breeding season, the face is lined with black, long hackles develop on the chest, and the wings have black tips. The bill of the yellow-billed spoonbill is narrower and works more like a forceps than the larger-ended and more spoon-like bill of the royal spoonbill, which acts like a pair of tongs. Like all members of the ibis and spoonbill family, it always flies with its head extended.
Taxonomy
The renowned ornithologist John Gould first described the yellow-billed spoonbill, naming it Platalea flavipes although noting its distinctness from other members of the genus. Bonaparte erected the genus Platibis in 1856, and Gould followed this classification in his later work. He noted the species appeared in great numbers across New South Wales in 1839, particularly in the north between the Hunter and lower Namoi Rivers. The year had been wet, in contrast to droughts in previous years.<p>A 2010 study of mitochondrial DNA of the spoonbills by Chesser and colleagues found that the yellow-billed and roseate spoonbills were each other's closest relative, and the two were descended from an early offshoot from the ancestors of the other four spoonbill species. They felt the genetic evidence meant it was equally valid to consider all six to be classified within the genus Platalea or alternatively the two placed in the monotypic genera Platibis and Ajaia respectively. However, as the six species were so similar morphologically, keeping them within the one genus made more sense.
- Scientific name
- Platalea flavipes
- Authority
- Gould, 1838
- Order
- Pelecaniformes
- Family
- Threskiornithidae
- Genus
- Platalea
Range and habitat
The yellow-billed spoonbill is found across eastern, northern and southwestern Australia, particularly around water, and has been recorded as a vagrant to New Zealand, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. It is not found in Tasmania. It nests in trees, marshes or reed-beds, and often roosts in trees. It occurs in shallows of wetlands, and occasionally on dry pasture.
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Antarctic Tern
Sterna vittata
A light gray medium-sized tern. Black cap extends to bill in breeding plumage. Bill and legs red. In non-breeding birds, cap reduced to just the area behind the eye, bill has dull pinkish color, and underparts are white. Breeds in the circumpolar subantarctic region. Generally known to stay close to their breeding sites. Migrating Arctic Tern could occur in the same area, but not in breeding plumage, and would show more prominent black markings on outer primaries. White-fronted Tern can be distinguished by its larger body, lighter coloring, and longer, thinner, all-black bill.
Golden White-eye
Cleptornis marchei
A beautiful, unique, entirely yellowish white-eye. Bright golden yellow on the head with a paler eye-ring, yellowish-green wings, and a darker orange-yellow coloring below. Bill and legs pale yellow-orange. Found in understory of wooded and semi-open habitats. Song is a rambling warble that sounds like “can you see me? I can see you.” Call is a raspy “tchup.”
Tristram's Warbler
Curruca deserticola
Small, long-tailed Curruca warbler, very similar to Spectacled and Subalpine Warblers. Males are distinctive with very deep rusty underparts, a rusty throat (sometimes paler mid-throat), rusty wings, and a hint of pale buff moustache. Females are pale brown and less distinctive with normally rather warm-toned underparts. Breeds on mountain slopes covered in dense, low bushes, tamarisk scrub, and vegetated desert wadis; non-breeding habitat is sometimes lower in elevation, but typically similarly open and scrubby. Song a scratchy whistle. Call a low "trrrrr."
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