Scientific name: Platalea alba

Swahili name [1]: Domomwiko (Mpalalive)

IUCN status: Least concern

 

Threats and impacts:

The habitat and breeding areas for African spoonbills are threatened by dams and water management/use – wetland drainage or destruction of breeding areas. It is also shown in zoos or exhibits internationally.

 

Conservation:

The African Spoonbill is covered by the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA), an intergovernmental treaty dedicated to the conservation of migratory waterbirds and their habitats across Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, Greenland and the Canadian Archipelago [2]. AEWA is under the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). 

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Interesting information: 

The spoonbill has a carnivorous diet that consists of small fish and aquatic invertebrates, such as crayfish and water beetles. Spoonbills sweep their spatulate bill through shallow water looking for prey, using mechanoreceptors in their bill-tip organs for prey detection [3].

 

Hong Kong connection: A similar species, the black-faced spoonbill, is present in Hong Kong and can be found at the Mai Po Nature Reserve, a Wetland of International Importance under the prestigious Ramsar Convention since 1995 [4].

 

[1] http://mpalalive.org/field_guide/african_spoonbill

[2] https://www.unep-aewa.org/en

[3] Martin, G. R., & Portugal, S. J. (2011). Differences in foraging ecology determine variation in visual fields in ibises and spoonbills (Threskiornithidae). Ibis, 153(4),662–671. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1474-919X.2011.01151.x

[4] https://www.wwf.org.hk/en/whatwedo/water_wetlands/mai_po_nature_reserve/

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Photo credit: Jade Lam