26 August 2021

The birds of Tiengemeten (4)

 video Eurasian Spoonbill, Lepelaar, foraging ©GK
Best viewed on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_Na3FTQTd8

The most remarkable feature of the European Spoonbill is the spoon-like shape of bill and the way they use their bill. They typically use sideways sweeps of their beaks to filter out the tiny fish and shrimps in the water. The movements are very regular, with a fixed rate and width. It looks as if they do it blindly. While doing these movements the Spoonbill walks slowly with a regular tempo through the water. And this does not seem to be influenced by what he sees either. A really special and beautiful bird!

Spoonbill viewed from our garden ©GK

please note ornamental feathers on the head ©GK

spoonbill in flight with stretched neck ©GK

Lonely spoonbill in he evening in shallow water ©GK

Detail. Note light yellow spot. ©GK

Clearly, it is a sort of spoon! ©GK

Red-breasted Merganser,  Middelste Zaagbek ©GK

Egyptian goose, Nijlgans ©GK

European goldfinch, Putter ©GK

Eurasian tree sparrow, Ringmus ©GK

European stonechat, Roodborsttapuit ©GK

Northern shoveler, Slobeend ©GK

That's it for today... Next blog will be the last in this series ...



No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments to posts >30 days old are being moderated.
Safari causes problems, please use Firefox or Chrome for adding comments.