Tag: Yellow-billed Spoonbill

Two Mismatched Spoonbills

May 12, 2021

Today, after taking the gran’kid to school we drove the long way home and passed these two spoonbills.

I had time to take lots of photos, but this one was my favorite. I’m not sure why their bills are different colours. I thought that meant they were two different species. The one with the black bills are Royal Spoonbills. The paler bill is the Yellow-billed Spoonbill. Maybe I’m wrong. Help me out here….

Yellow-billed Spoonbill (2)

January 23, 2021

Here are some more pics of the Spoonbill. Click here to go to more pics.

When the water in this pond fluctuates in depth, fish get trapped, making it an ideal place for birds to feed. However, the big fish in the pond are too much for a Spoonbill to contemplate.

What’s that I see behind me????
The carp, not a native fish, grow quite large
I wonder if this was a successful snap of the bill?
More like two spoons really…

Yellow-billed Spoonbill (1)

January 14, 2021

There are many varieties of Spoonbills. This one is a Yellow-billed Spoonbill. It is notable for its strangely shaped bill. It has black markings on its face and black coloring on its wingtips. It also has some distinctive feathers around its neck. They are not uncommon here in Victoria, Australia.

I saw this Spoonbill fishing in a small. shallow pond nearby my house. It lies adjacent to a lagoon, where the water level is adjusted up and down depending on demand for irrigation water by farmers. It ignored me and continued to fish by sweeping its bill from side to side, presumably catching lots of small fish to eat.