All of the Wadden Islands have nesting colonies; in total, more than 60% of all Dutch spoonbills nest on these islands. The first Wadden Island colony formed on Texel (in the Muy) after 1900. They estabished a colony on Terschelling in 1962, on Vlieland in 1983 and on Schiermonnikoog in 1992. It took another two years for them to discover Ameland, and another two years for the first successful nest. In 1998, the first nesting spoonbill pair was seen on Rottumerplaat and in in 2000, the species started nesting on the salt marshes of the Balgzand. The first spoonbill to nest on Griend was in 2010. Since 2004, spoonbills have been removed from the Red List for threatened and vulnerable bird species in the Netherlands.

The spoonbills on the Wadden Islands face a lack of food when they arrive in the springtime. They usually eat shrimp which they find in the shallow channels and creeks of the mudflats. However, the water near the surface is still cold in the spring, so the shrimp swim in water too deep for the 30-cm long beak.

The three-spined stickleback is a good alternative. This fish migrates from salt to fresh water to spawn in the spring. The spoonbills stand ready along the ditches to catch them. However, there aren't many places where these fish can readily make the voyage to fresh water due to dikes and sluices. Therefore, special stickleback passages have been built in several places in the wadden region. Via these passages, they are able to reach fresh water ... and sometimes the beak of a spoonbill.

Specifically for the spoonbills, the State Forestry had a passage built in 1995 in the wadden dike by De Cocksdorp on Texel for three-spined sticklebacks. Two years later, a fish trap was set up for the same purpose between the Moksloot and the Mok Bay. The passage was built close to De Cockdorp's pumping station.

Large amounts of sticklebacks are attracted when fresh water is released into the sea. These fish are lured to a cage with a freshwater current. From there, they are carried over the dike. Via the Roggesloot, they can swim further into the polder. During trial runs in 1996, 40,000 fish were carried over the dike.

The number of sticklebacks in the ditches of Texel increased significantly during this period. There is now more food for the spoonbills in the spring thanks to this passage. Eel also profit from this mechanism. Young elvers also use the passage to enter the ditches.