Platalea ajaja (Linneaus 1758) is the extant roseate spoonbill, another long-legged wading bird. The bill is wide, convergent with more distantly related ducks.

Pumiliornis tessellatus (Mayr 1999, 2008; 6cm long; middle Eocene) was originally considered enigmatic, and later close to cukoos. Here it nests with the spoonbill Platalea. This wren-sized has a slightly spatulate beak. Shown larger than actual size. This is a neotonous form of the long-legged spoonbill leaving no known descendants.

Linnaeus C 1758. Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata.

Mayr G 1999. Pumiliornis tessellatus n. gen. n. sp., a new enigmatic bird from the Middle Eocene of Grube Messel (Hessen, Germany). Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, 216: 31–73, Frankfurt a.M. 1999.

Mayr G 2008. Pumiliornis tessellatus MAYR, 1999 revisited - new data on the osteology and possible phylogenetic affinities of an enigmatic Middle Eocene bird. Palfontologische Zeitschrift. 82/3: 247–253.

wiki/Platalea
wiki/Pumiliornis