Breeding
When they are breeding, long white plumes grow from the back of their heads and coloured patches appear on the face. The nest is an open platform of sticks in a tree in which the female lays two or three eggs. The chicks hatch after 21 days. The birds are highly sensitive to disturbance in the breeding season. In Australia, whole colonies have been known to desert their eggs after a minor upset.
Read more about this topic: Royal Spoonbill
Famous quotes containing the word breeding:
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—Joseph Addison (1672–1719)
“Good breeding ... differs, if at all, from high breeding only as it gracefully remembers the rights of others, rather than gracefully insists on its own rights.”
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881)
“Courtesy is breeding. Breeding is an excellent thing. Always remember that.”
—Lillian Hellman (1905–1984)