Ibises and spoonbills | Threskiornithidae

Ibissen en lepelaars | Ibis y espátulas | Ibises and spoonbills

These birds feel their food rather than see it. The bill is long and packed with touch receptors: in the ibises it is decurved for probing mud, shallow water and grass tussocks, while in the spoonbills it widens at the tip into a spatula that is swept sideways through the water and snaps shut the moment something touches it. That lets them feed in turbid water and after dark. The face is partly or wholly bare, they fly with the neck outstretched in lines or slanting formations, alternating flapping with gliding, and they nest colonially in trees or reeds, laying two to five eggs whose naked young take food from the parent's throat.