Platalea leucorodia
Silhouette: Jamie Whitehouse · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The Eurasian spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia), or common spoonbill, is a wading bird of the ibis and spoonbill family Threskiornithidae, native to Europe, Africa and Asia. The species is partially migratory with the more northerly breeding populations mostly migrating south for the winter.
The Eurasian spoonbill was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the current binomial name Platalea leucorodia. Linnaeus cited works by earlier authors including the description and illustration by the English naturalist Eleazar Albin that was published in 1734. Linnaeus specified the type locality as Europe but restricted it to Sweden in 1761. The genus name Platalea is Latin and means "broad", referring to the distinctive shape of the bill; the specific epithet leucorodia is from Ancient Greek leukerodios meaning "spoonbill", itself derived from leukos, "white" and erodios "heron". A molecular phylogenetic study of the spoonbills based on mitochondrial DNA found that the Eurasian spoonbill is sister taxon to a clade containing the royal and black-faced spoonbills. In England it was traditionally known as... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Doñana National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 2 | Hortobágy National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 3 | Keoladeo National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Yala National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 5 | Kiskunság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 6 | Camargue | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 7 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 8 | Fertő-Hanság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 9 | Udawalawe National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 10 | Monfragüe National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 11 | Wilpattu National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 12 | Ranthambore National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 13 | Minneriya National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 14 | Satpura National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 15 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 16 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 17 | Nagarhole National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 18 | Bandipur National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 19 | Kanha National Park | 🇮🇳 India |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Naha | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 2 | Agra | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Quanzhou | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 4 | Rabat | 🇲🇦 Morocco | |
| 5 | Vasai-Virar | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Chennai | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Dakar | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 8 | Rajkot | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Mumbai | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Kalyan-Dombivli | 🇮🇳 India |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Eurasian Spoonbill sighting in Bavarian Forest National Park on a given day, based on 7 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 155th most-seen of the 170 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Eurasian Spoonbill in Bavarian Forest National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Eurasian Spoonbill sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
16th of 19
Of the 19 parks where we can rate Eurasian Spoonbill sightings, Bavarian Forest National Park ranks 16th at under 5%. The best odds are in Doñana National Park (Spain, about 60%), Hortobágy National Park (Hungary, about 50%) and Keoladeo National Park (India, about 50%). All parks ranked.
Same order: Pelecaniformes
The closest relatives of the Eurasian Spoonbill that you can see in Bavarian Forest National Park (order Pelecaniformes, Pelicans, Herons, Ibises, and Allies) are Grey Heron (about 40%) and Great Egret (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Eurasian Spoonbill is recorded against all the birds logged in Bavarian Forest National Park (7 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
