Spoonbills’ lovers’ tiff

These Royal Spoonbills were hilarious to watch as they sparred and made up, time and time again – it seems like a good theme for Valentine’s Day.

Royal Spoonbills are remarkable birds with fascinating bills, it was cute to watch them use their bills to fight and then to preen each other, allopreen, as they made up. Spoonbills are large waterbirds that are easy to identify in the field, even at a distance, as they feed by sweeping their bills back and forth through shallow water, unlike the Great Egrets that stab at their prey. Yellow-billed Spoonbills are slightly larger that the royals, with yellow legs and bills. Spoonbills often forage with company while egrets are generally loners.

The heat and humidity yesterday, along with the harsh light, were not conducive to photography but I was on a little trek with a Hardhead duck that needed to be taken to Healesville Sanctuary’s Vet Hospital. The duck had been trapped in a golf course fence, 25m above ground! The rescue mission was amazing with the MFB unable to reach the bird with their equipment and a private crane owner coming out after hours to carefully extricate the stressed duck before handing it to wildlife carer Nalini who cared for it overnight. Hardhead are listed as Vulnerable in Victoria but bizarrely they are also ‘game birds’ that can be shot during Victorian recreational duck shooting seasons. We’re still waiting to hear the government’s decision about this year’s season. I was struck by the concerted team effort for a species that can legally be shot for three months each year.

Today I was supposed to meet with James Merlino, the Deputy Premier, but on my way I was caught in one of this afternoon’s dramatic storms. Traffic was crawling as rain pounded, affecting visibility and causing flooding. I phoned James’ office to say I wouldn’t be able to get there in time so would like a phone meeting instead but sadly that didn’t happen. I am very upset, feeling that I’ve let down the waterbirds and everyone who knew I was due to meet with him (the meeting had been scheduled for a couple months). The Electorate Officer said he’ll call on Monday and I’m hoping a brief meeting will be rescheduled for early next week.

The image above shows one of the spoonbills preening after sparring. I like the way this image details the fascinating texture and shape of the spoon-shaped bill. The inside of the bill is remarkable too with papillae, vibration detectors, that enable spoonbills to find food in murky water or at night.

Happy birding
Kim

~ Facebook page Kim Wormald – lirralirra
~ Facebook group  Ethical Bird Photography