Stats

Lifespan

10-15 yrs

Size

Large

Diet

Carnivore

Activity

Diurnal

Social

Colony

Biome

Coastal wetland

Range

Americas

Movement

Flight

Breeding

Egg-laying

Defense

Flight

Status

Common

About

This gregarious wading bird gets its vivid pink plumage from carotenoid pigments in the crustaceans and small fish it strains through its flattened, spoon-shaped bill. It feeds by sweeping its bill side to side through shallow water in coastal lagoons and marshes.

Life cycle

1. 1.
   egg

   A clutch of eggs is incubated in the nest, kept warm by a brooding parent until the chicks pip free.
2. 2.
   hatchling

   A naked or downy hatchling is fed in the nest by its parents.
3. 3.
   juvenile

   A feathered juvenile fledges from the nest and learns to fly and forage.
4. 4.
   adult

   Fully grown with adult plumage.

Learn more

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Taxonomy

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Aves

Order

Pelecaniformes

Family

Threskiornithidae

Genus

Platalea

Species

Platalea ajaja