Platalea leucorodia Linnaeus, 1758.

Length 90 cm. A large white bird with an unmistakable long black bill, spoon-shaped at the tip. The adult has a yellow breast band and, in the breeding season, a long yellow crest. The Spoonbill lives in the Red Sea mangrove swamps, and salt marshes and spends the winter in marshes and estuaries. It feeds on small fish, aquatic organisms, and sometimes algae and other aquatic plants. It is partly nocturnal and feeds in small flocks, by sweeping its bill back and forth through the shallow water to catch its food. The nest is a platform of sticks, reeds, or grass stems, often built on mangrove trees. Sexual maturity is at three or four years, 3-4 eggs are laid and incubated by the mother. In Egypt, it is an uncommon passage migrant and winter visitor, and a rare breeding resident on the Red Sea Coast. It is also found in the Western Desert, North Sinai, and the Nile Valley and Delta.