Yellow-billed Spoonbill

Images ©:
©Bob Winters

Platalea flavipes

Large spoonbill, up to 91 cm. Yellow legs and feet. In the breeding season, facial skin is outlined in black, outer wing plumes are tipped black and there are long hackles on its upper breast. Out of breeding season, face is yellow with no black outline and the lacy plumes and hackles are reduced or absent.

Details
Type
Bird
Group
Animals
Spoonbill
Biology

Breeding season: July to November in the south. Clutch size is two to four. Often nests in colonies with other water birds, such as Ibises and Royal Spoonbills. Nest is a shallow, unlined platform of sticks, rushes and reeds, positioned in high forks of trees over water or in among reed beds. Males collect nest materials. Females build the nest. Both sexes incubate the eggs and care for the young.
Distinctive Markings

Yellow face and spatulate (spoon-shaped) bill.
Taxonomy
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Aves
Order
Ciconiiformes
Family
Threskiornithidae
Genus
Platalea
Species
flavipes

Source: Atlas of Living Australia

Yellow-billed Spoonbills can use much smaller bodies of water than the related Royal Spoonbills.

Interesting Facts
Diet

Carnivore. Feeds on aquatic insects and their larvae, using its bill to sweep shallow waters for prey.
Habitat

Found in freshwater wetlands and swamps, and occasionally saltwater areas.
Native Status
Native to Australia
Audio
Sounds
Almost mute. Some feeble grunting and also bill-clapping.