African Spoonbill

© Judith Monteferrante

Published: October 3, 2011

An African Spoonbill flies low over the water at Lake Nakuru National Park in Kenya in August 2011.

"I watched large formations of these birds," says photographer Judith Monteferrante of Gloucester, Massachusetts. "I was trying to isolate one in flight to be able to capture the power and glory of its wingspan in flight. African Spoonbills (Platalea alba) are large, all-white, egret-like birds with a bare red face and white eye and a long gray bill flattened into a spoon shape. They fly with their necks outstretched. A lovely sight to see so low over the surface to create the reflection. The spoonbills are found in sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar and are nomadic and migratory in many areas."

She took the photo with a Nikon D300 and a Nikon 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 lens and posted it to our World Gallery.

See more photos of African birds:

African Pygmy-falcon
African Skimmers
Crowned Hawk-eagle
Lesser Flamingos
Secretarybird
Shoebill
Southern Masked Weaver
Striped Kingfisher
White-bellied Go-away-bird
Woodchat Shrike
Woodland Kingfisher

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