MyKrugerHoliday
Photo: Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source ↗
African Spoonbill
Lepelaar · Platalea alba
This white waterbird has the most amazing bill, flat and wide at the tip like a spoon. It sweeps its open bill from side to side through shallow water, snapping it shut the moment it feels a fish, shrimp or insect. With its red face and long grey legs, the African Spoonbill is one of the bush's most unusual feeders.
Log your African Spoonbill sighting — free →How to identify it
Look for the unmistakable flat, spoon-shaped grey bill on an all-white bird with a red face.
Where to see it in Kruger
Look in shallow pans, dams and slow river edges, including the Sabie and Olifants Rivers.
Did you know
It catches food by feel, swishing its spoon-shaped bill through water without even looking!
Often confused with
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