A bird with a spoon
You will never confuse a spoonbill with another bird. It is completely white, with long black legs and a long black bill that ends in a wide, flat “spoon” with a yellow tip. In the breeding season, adults grow a bushy crest of feathers on the back of their head and a yellow-orange patch on the breast.
The spoonbill has a special way of hunting. It walks slowly through shallow water and swings its open bill from side to side. When a small fish, shrimp or water insect touches the inside of the bill, it snaps shut in a fraction of a second.
The Dutch spoonbill
The Netherlands is the most important breeding country for spoonbills in western Europe. They nest in colonies, often on the ground on the Wadden islands, or in reeds and low trees in marshes like the Oostvaardersplassen and the Naardermeer. The Naardermeer, near Amsterdam, was the first nature reserve in the Netherlands, bought in 1906 partly to protect its spoonbill colony.
In the 1960s and 70s only a few hundred pairs were left, because pesticides poisoned the water and wetlands were drained. After the use of these chemicals was limited and new wetlands were created, the population grew again. Today thousands of pairs breed in the country.
Spoonbills fly with their necks stretched out straight — unlike herons, which fold their necks into an S-shape.
A migrating bird
Dutch spoonbills do not stay for the winter. In autumn they fly south to France, Spain and Portugal, and many continue to West Africa — especially to the Banc d’Arguin in Mauritania and to Senegal. Researchers put coloured rings on young spoonbills, so birdwatchers can follow individual birds along the whole route.