Spoonbills

All 3 species of spoonbills on WAnimals

Each one has its own full profile. This group does not replace them: it brings them together.

Conservation status

Where they live

Recorded in 110 countries. The ones with the most species in the group:

Where to see them

Did you know…?

• It feeds by holding its bill half open in the water and sweeping it from side to side, finding prey by touch without needing to see it.

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• Its pink comes from the crustaceans it strains out, sweeping its bill through the water.

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• Its distinctive pink, much like a flamingo's, comes from carotenoid pigments in the crustaceans it eats.

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• It is pink because of what it eats: the carotenoids in the crustaceans it feeds on are laid down in the plumage, just as in flamingos, and a poorly fed bird in captivity loses the colour.

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• It feeds by touch, not by sight: it walks along sweeping the water with its bill half open and snaps it shut the moment it brushes against prey.

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• It is covered by the AEWA Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds.

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• Its colonies are usually single-species, unlike those of most colonial African wading birds.

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Ecosystems