Artwork description:

Here we have the Yellow-billed Spoonbill, (Platalea flavipes), taken in Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia. A beautiful bird, and the distinctive bill makes them familiar to those who have seen spoonbills in Florida, America, and Europe. This is, of course closely related to these other birds, but restricted to Australia and a rare vagrant in New Zealand. I have been fascinated with these bizarre and curiously beautiful birds since childhood and the bill is adapted to sweeping through mud in ponds, rivers and waterholes to sift out small crustaceans which make up the main part of its diet, often purposely stirring up the mud with its feet to get them moving, and it has special sensors in the beak opening to detect small movements which these give off

Materials used:

Giclee print

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