Spoonbill Platalea leucorodia

Linnaeus, 1758

Key Facts

Measurements	Length: 85 cm    |  Wingspan: 122 cm    |  Weight: 1.5 kg
Identification Tips	View pictures from the Crossley ID Guide , or listen to sound-clips from Xeno-Canto
World Distribution	BREEDS: local in s Europe, c&s; Asia & n Africa, WINTERS: south to Mediterranean, s Asia & c Africa
Found in	Lakes, marshes, swamps & mudflats
Diet	Insects, small fish, crustaceans, amphibians, bill swept from side to side
Scientific name from	L.: platalea=the Spoonbill and Gr.: leukos + erodios=a heron
Subspecies	leucorodia recorded in Britain (of 3 subsp. in the world)
TitBit	The bizarre spoon-shaped bill is used for feeding, swept back and forth while being held slightly open, it filters out small invertebrates disturbed from the sediment by birds vigorously paddling their feet.

Population Trends & Distribution

Population Trends	from the Wetland Bird Survey
British Population Size
Passage:	75 individuals
also occurs in Summer:	29 Pairs (. to . ) in 2017
First Record	Recorded in Anglo-Saxon times
First Breeding Record	NW England (after extinct 17th Century) 1999
Current Conservation Status	AMBER because Rare (Breeding & Non-Breeding),
Past Assessments	2015-2020 AMBER 2009-2014 AMBER 2002-2007 AMBER 1996-2001 N/A
Subspecies Status	leucorodia AMBER (Rare or Localised)
Historical Trends	1800-49 1850-99 1900-39 1940-69 1969-95 1996-2020
Listed on the Annexes of	WCA(I), WBD(I), Bern(III), Bonn(II), AEWA, CITES(II)
European Population Size	29 thousand pairs (24 to 36 thousand pairs)
European Population Status	Habitats Directive Report
European Distribution Map	European Breeding Bird Atlas

Migration & Movements

First Arrivals by	7 February
Spring Migration	typically early February to early March
Autumn Migration	typically mid September to early November
View movements of the last year using the EuroBirdPortal Viewer
View a summary of recoveries in the Online Ringing Report

Breeding & Survival

-- Productivity and Nesting Success
View latest trends from the Nest Record Scheme
Number of Broods	1
Egg Size	67 x 46 mm    Weight = 76.0 g (of which 9 % is shell)
Clutch Size	3 - 4 eggs
Incubation Period	21 - 25 days | by Male + Female
Fledging Period	45 - 50 days | as Altricial, downy
-- Survival and Longevity
View number ringed each year in the Online Ringing Report

Biometrics

Ring Size	Check with Ringing Unit
Wing Length
Adults	Insufficient Data
Juveniles	Insufficient Data
Males	Insufficient Data
Females	Insufficient Data
Feather measurements and photos on featherbase
Body Weight
Adults	Insufficient Data
Juveniles	Insufficient Data
Males	Insufficient Data
Females	Insufficient Data

Other names

Also known as Eurasian Spoonbill
For information in another language (where available) click on a linked name
Gaelic: Gob-leathann	Welsh: Llwybig	Catalan: becplaner comú
Czech: kolpík bílý	Danish: Skestork	Dutch: Lepelaar
Estonian: luitsnokk-iibis	Finnish: kapustahaikara	French: Spatule blanche
German: Löffler	Hungarian: kanalasgém	Icelandic: Flatnefur
Irish: Leitheadach	Italian: Spatola	Latvian: karošknabis
Lithuanian: paprastoji girnove	Norwegian: Skjestork	Polish: warzecha (zwyczajna)
Portuguese: colhereiro-europeu	Spanish: Espátula común	Swedish: skedstork
More bird names from Ethno-ornithology World Atlas

More information

Books and Monographs

• Hancock, J. 1992 Storks, ibises and spoonbills of the world Academic Press, London [598.463 HAN]

See also

• Wikipedia entry
• Birdlife species page
• Avibase species page
• NBN Atlas species page
• Birds of the World species account (subscription required)
• Search Google Scholar for research papers