- Platalea flavipes
Identification
- White
- Yellow face, spatulate bill, legs and feet.
Breeding: the facial skin is edged in black, the outer wing plumes are tipped black and there are long breast feathers.
Young birds are similar to adults, but have black markings on the inner flight feathers
Distribution
Australia; vagrant to Tasmania and New Zealand
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species[1].
Habitat
Shallows of freshwater wetlands, dams, lagoons and swamps, and sometimes in dry pastures, but rarely uses saltwater wetlands.
Behaviour
Diet
The diet includes aquatic insects and larvae.
Breeding
Colonial nester, joining other water birds, such as Ibis and Royal Spoonbill. The nest is placed high in the fork of trees over water, or in amongst reed beds. It is a shallow, unlined platform of sticks, rushes and reeds. The female builds the nest from materials supplied by the male. Both sexes share incubation and care of the young.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2014. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.9., with updates to August 2014. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Birds in Backyards
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
