The Black-faced spoonbill (Platalea minor) is a common winter visitor in southern Okinawa. The spoonbill is currently endangered and has an estimated population of less than 3000. It’s biggest treats are habitat loss, pollution and pesticides. The Black-faced spoonbill is currently listed critically endangered on the IUCN red list of threatened species.

• Scientific name:  (Platalea minor)
• Distribution: Okinawa, Korea, China, Taiwan and Japan
• Habitat: Mud flats, mangroves and wetlands
• Diet:  Fish
• Average Size:  73.5 cm

The Black-faced spoonbill in flight

The Black-faced spoonbill is a magnificent animal.

The beautiful Black-faced spoonbill

The Black-faced spoonbills work as a team when hunting for fish.

The Black-faced spoonbill-community hunting

Out of all the birds at the mudflats, the spoonbills are the most consistent hunters. They rest most of the day, but when its time to fish they always catch one fairly quickly.

The Black-faced spoonbill-hunting

The Spoonbills in flight

Black-faced Spoonbill in flight

Black-faced spoonbill (Platalea minor)

The Spoonbill landing – The art of conveying Motion !

Th Black-faced spoonbill -landing

Let’s Protect the beauty of Okinawa!

 My Mission: To Document and Preserve the Wildlife of the Ryukyu Islands

This site is also designed to help people identify the beautiful animals of Okinawa, basically  to serve as an online nature reference guide. If you would like to make a contribution to support my mission, please click on the donation link  paypal.me/maketheswitch4nature

Your donations will help worldwide conservation initiatives as well as bring solutions to the worldwide pollution issues on our beautiful shorelines.  Thank you for your support.  Shawn M Miller.