spoonbill

any of several wading birds of warm regions, such as Platalea leucorodia (common spoonbill) and Ajaia ajaja (roseate spoonbill), having a long horizontally flattened bill: family Threskiornithidae, order Ciconiiformes

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Spoonbill

(Platalea leucorodia), a bird of the family Plataleidae of the order Ciconiiformes. Its body length measures about 80 cm, and its weight about 1.5 kg. The bill is flat and expanded near the tip in the shape of a spatula. The plumage is white.

The spoonbill is distributed in Europe, Asia, and northeastern Africa. In the USSR it is found in the south, from the lower Danube to Primor’e. A migratory bird, it winters in Africa and southern Asia. The spoonbill settles in colonies, usually at the mouths of rivers that are overgrown with reeds. It feeds mainly on small invertebrates. The bird installs its nests on bent reed stalks, more rarely in trees. Three to five eggs are laid at one time. The young hatch covered with down but are blind and helpless.

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References in periodicals archive

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