Keywords: outdoor animal aquatic bird bird egret All spoonbills have large, flat, spatulate bills and feed by wading through shallow water, sweeping the partly opened bill from side to side. The moment any small aquatic creature touches the inside of the bill—an insect, crustacean, or tiny fish—it is snapped shut. Spoonbills generally prefer fresh water to salt but are found in both environments. They need to feed many hours each day. Spoonbills are monogamous, but, so far as is known, only for one season at a time. Most species nest in trees or reed beds, often with ibises or herons. The male gathers nesting material—mostly sticks and reeds, sometimes taken from an old nest—the female weaves it into a large, shallow bowl or platform which varies in its shape and structural integrity according to species. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoonbill Waldronville is located close to the Kaikorai Lagoon, an expanse of water at the mouth of the Kaikorai Stream protected from the ocean by a sandbar which stretches inland almost as far as the Dunedin suburb of Green Island, 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) to the north. The lagoon is part of a research project aimed at establishing a national estuarine monitoring protocol. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldronville All spoonbills have large, flat, spatulate bills and feed by wading through shallow water, sweeping the partly opened bill from side to side. The moment any small aquatic creature touches the inside of the bill—an insect, crustacean, or tiny fish—it is snapped shut. Spoonbills generally prefer fresh water to salt but are found in both environments. They need to feed many hours each day. Spoonbills are monogamous, but, so far as is known, only for one season at a time. Most species nest in trees or reed beds, often with ibises or herons. The male gathers nesting material—mostly sticks and reeds, sometimes taken from an old nest—the female weaves it into a large, shallow bowl or platform which varies in its shape and structural integrity according to species. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoonbill Waldronville is located close to the Kaikorai Lagoon, an expanse of water at the mouth of the Kaikorai Stream protected from the ocean by a sandbar which stretches inland almost as far as the Dunedin suburb of Green Island, 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) to the north. The lagoon is part of a research project aimed at establishing a national estuarine monitoring protocol. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldronville |