#spoonbill

Coastal cliffs and sea stacks are prime real estate for nesting seabirds, since it helps them avoid land-based predators, but since New Zealand doesn't have any apart from the introduced cats, dogs, possums and foxes, I'm not at all clear on why spoonbills would be roosting on the sea stacks at Nugget Point. Maybe they like the view?

One the other hand the birds are highly sensitive to disturbance during the breeding season. Back here In Australia, whole colonies, usually nesting in clumps of small trees in the middle of lakes and wetlands, have been known to desert their eggs after a minor upset.

Photo by Ben Ackerley, on iNaturalist.

AKA kōtuku ngutupapa and black-billed spoonbill.

John Gould described it in 1838, and noted its similarity to the Eurasian spoonbill (P. leucorodia) - this was confirmed with mitochondrial DNA studies in 2010.

Found in intertidal flats and shallow fresh and saltwater wetlands in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands, and occasionally New Caledonia. They feed on small animals caught as they sweep their bills from side to side in shallow water, like this one I saw out on the mudflats at Waikawa a few days later.

Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia), in breeding plumage, family Threskiornithidae, order Pelecaniformes, Karnataka, India

Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia), family Threskiornithidae, order Pelecaniformes, Tamil Nadu, India

Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja) juvenile. Family Threskiornithidae, order Pelecaniformes.

Snowy Egret (Egretta thula) flying in. Family Ardeidae, order Pelecaniformes.

These two foraged side by side together for about 10-15 minutes before the egret decided I was too close and took off. I love getting to see different species interact with each other 🥰

My man

in the distance

a dream glimmers

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☆