Black-faced Spoonbill

Platalea minor Temminck & Schlegel, 1850

74–85 cmLength110 cmWingspan1.2 kgWeight

It has a long, flat, spoon-shaped bill and black bare facial skin extending behind the eyes.

Busiest months: November–January · Most records: China, South Korea, Japan

Looks like Eurasian Spoonbill

Vulnerable

How to identify

Field marks

Long, flat bill shaped like a spoon
Black bare facial skin extends behind the eyes
Mainly white overall, with black legs and feet
Crest and breast distinctly yellow in the breeding season

Male, female and young

Immatures have a paler, smaller bill with a smoother surface; chicks are all white, paler than immatures.

Voice

Males give low calls to attract females during the breeding season.

Similar species

Eurasian Spoonbill

Black-faced Spoonbill is slightly smaller, with black bare facial skin extending behind the eyes.

Where and when it's recorded

Black-faced Spoonbill has been recorded at 324 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 8 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

To protect this bird from disturbance, we don't list exact sites.

Countries and regions with the most records

China South Korea Japan Vietnam Philippines Thailand Malaysia Cambodia

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The black-faced spoonbill (Platalea minor) is a species of wading bird in the ibis and spoonbill family Threskiornithidae, found in eastern Asia. This species has the most restricted distribution of the six spoonbill species, and is the only one regarded as vulnerable. Spoonbills are large water birds with dorso-ventrally flattened, spatulate bills; they use a tactile method of feeding, wading in the water and sweeping their beaks from side-to-side to detect prey.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions

How big is the Black-faced Spoonbill?

The Black-faced Spoonbill is about 74–85 cm long, with a wingspan of 110 cm and weighs around 1.2 kg.

Where does the Black-faced Spoonbill live?

Its breeding range: Palearctic: northeastern Russia, Korean Peninsula and northeastern China. It is most often recorded in China, South Korea and Japan.