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Black-faced spoonbills reached a serious low in population in the 1990s, but by 2003 their numbers increased to at least 1,069 counted individuals. [5] While it is known that their breeding area covers northeastern China and several islands between North and South Korea, [6] human-assisted breeding efforts have not been overly successful due to the difficulty in sexing the black-faced ...
The African spoonbill is almost unmistakable through most of its range. The breeding bird is all white except for its red legs and face and long grey spatulate bill. It has no crest, unlike the common spoonbill. Immature birds lack the red face and have a yellow bill. Unlike herons, spoonbills fly with their necks outstretched.
Eurasian spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) Adults and juveniles are largely white with black outer wing-tips and dark bills and legs. Breeds in reed beds, usually without other species. Northeast of Africa and much of Eurasia from the British Isles across to Japan: Black-faced spoonbill (Platalea minor) Closely related to Eurasian spoonbills.
The family Threskiornithidae includes 36 species of large wading birds. The family has been traditionally classified into two subfamilies, the ibises and the spoonbills; however recent genetic studies have cast doubt on this arrangement, and have found the spoonbills to be nested within the Old World ibises, and the New World ibises as an early offshoot.
Straw-necked ibises are large birds, around 59–76 cm (23–30 in) long, with a bare black head and a long, downcurved black bill. They have a distinctive, highly iridescent plumage, which can appear fairly uniform dirty dark brown in indifferent light; [2] the wings are dark, with an iridescent, multicoloured sheen in sunlight.
The renowned ornithologist John Gould first described the royal spoonbill in 1838, naming it Platalea regia and noting its similarity to the Eurasian spoonbill (P. leucorodia). [2] A 2010 study of mitochondrial DNA of the spoonbills by Chesser and colleagues found that the royal and black-faced spoonbills were each other's closest relatives. [3]
A molecular phylogenetic study of the spoonbills based on mitochondrial DNA found that the Eurasian spoonbill is sister taxon to a clade containing the royal and black-faced spoonbills. [8] In England it was traditionally known as the "shovelard", a name later used for the northern shoveler. [9] Three subspecies are recognised. These are listed ...
They are large, black-and-white or completely black, with long wings and deeply forked tails. The males have colored inflatable throat pouches. They do not swim or walk and cannot take off from a flat surface. Having the largest wingspan-to-body-weight ratio of any bird, they are essentially aerial, able to stay aloft for more than a week.