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Today on Animal Fact Files we’re discussing spoonbills. There are six living spoonbill species. These birds live throughout the world in tropical and temperate regions. Their preferred habitats are wetland areas like swamps, mangroves, coastal areas, marshes, lagoons, mudflats, and more. They are wading birds like ibises, egrets, and herons, and they search for food in both fresh and saltwater. Their diet consists of small fish like minnows and killifish, aquatic insects and other invertebrates like shrimp, crayfish, and crabs. They’ll also eat aquatic plants. Spoonbills use their spoon-shaped beak by moving it back and forth in the water and snapping it closed when prey enters it. They’re tactile eaters, meaning they respond to the prey’s touch inside their bills!

Their bill may be their most easily recognizable feature. In adults, this flattened beak resembles the culinary utensil, hence these birds’ common name! Most of them look white, though the spoonbills found in the Americas come in bright pink! This coloration may come from their diet, the same way flamingos turn pink due to the foods they eat. In size, these birds on average have a four foot (121cm) wingspan and stand just over two feet (61cm) tall. Sometimes spoonbills sport heavier plumage along their chest or the top of their head giving them a heron-like appearance. Their legs and beaks are black, though these can start out orange when the spoonbills are babies. When young, a spoonbill’s beak is spoon-shaped but not necessarily flattened out like their parents, this happens as they age.

Spoonbills nest, feed, and roost in flocks. These can number anywhere from a pair to 400 members. During the breeding season, white spoonbills may develop yellow courtship plumage. Their chests and bills may change color during this time. Adult spoonbills reach reproductive age around three years old and males will present potential mates with nest building material. If accepted, he’ll continue bringing nest material while the female constructs the nest. Spoonbill nests are typically between five and fifteen feet (1.5-4.5m) off the ground. The female will lay an average of three to four eggs over the course of a few days and then both parents incubate them. After about twenty-five days, the chicks hatch. It takes about fifty days for the chicks to leave the nest but they’ll stick around their parents for weeks after. The pair does not typically stay together after raising their brood and the following year they’ll likely seek out new partners. In the wild, spoonbills can live to be ten years old or older.

Predators to spoonbills include crows and kites. They’re also predated by mammalian predators when young including raccoons and skunks. In North America, spoonbills are recovering from decades of overhunting for their bright feathers, though they still face threats in the form of habitat loss.

For more facts on spoonbills, check out the links below. Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today. Thank you to our Patrons SpikeSpiegel93, Dad, and everyone else for their support of this channel! Thank you to filetero for today’s request! And thank you for watching Animal Fact Files!