Animalia > Chordata > Aves > Pelecaniformes > Threskiornithidae > Platalea > Platalea flavipes

Platalea flavipes (Yellow-billed Spoonbill)

Synonyms: Platibis flavipes

Wikipedia Abstract

The yellow-billed spoonbill (Platalea flavipes) is common in southeast Australia; it is not unusual on the remainder of the continent, and is a vagrant to New Zealand, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. It is around 90 cm (35.5 in) long, and has white plumage with a yellow bill, legs and feet. It nests in trees, marshes or reed-beds, and often roosts in trees. It occurs in shallows of wetlands and occasionally on dry pasture. It feeds largely on aquatic life, which it finds by sweeping its bill from side to side. Like all members of the ibis and spoonbill family, it always flies with its head extended.
View Wikipedia Record: Platalea flavipes

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
9
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
34
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 18.5491
EDGE Score: 2.97293
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  3.948 lbs (1.791 kg)
Birth Weight [2]  81 grams
Diet [3]  Carnivore (Invertebrates), Piscivore, Herbivore
Diet - Fish [3]  20 %
Diet - Invertibrates [3]  70 %
Diet - Plants [3]  10 %
Forages - Water Surface [3]  100 %
Clutch Size [5]  3
Incubation [4]  28 days
Mating System [2]  Monogamy
Maximum Longevity [6]  29 years
Snout to Vent Length [1]  33 inches (85 cm)

Protected Areas

Prey / Diet

Cherax destructor (Yabby)[4]
Gambusia affinis (Live-bearing tooth-carp)[4]
Medicago polymorpha (bur clover)[4]
Philypnodon grandiceps (Flathead gudgeon)[4]

Prey / Diet Overlap

Competing SpeciesCommon Prey Count
Biziura lobata (Musk Duck)1
Tachybaptus novaehollandiae (Australasian Grebe)2

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Ardeicola harrisoni[7]
Ibidoecus flavus[7]
Polymorphus biziurae[8]

External References

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
♦ 2Terje Lislevand, Jordi Figuerola, and Tamás Székely. 2007. Avian body sizes in relation to fecundity, mating system, display behavior, and resource sharing. Ecology 88:1605
♦ 3Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027
♦ 4del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
♦ 5Jetz W, Sekercioglu CH, Böhning-Gaese K (2008) The Worldwide Variation in Avian Clutch Size across Species and Space PLoS Biol 6(12): e303. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060303
♦ 6de Magalhaes, J. P., and Costa, J. (2009) A database of vertebrate longevity records and their relation to other life-history traits. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22(8):1770-1774
♦ 7Species Interactions of Australia Database, Atlas of Living Australia, Version ala-csv-2012-11-19
♦ 8Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0