Roseate Spoonbill

 

The Roseate Spoonbill has bright pink feathers, red eye staring out from a partly bald head, and giant spoon-shaped bill. Groups sweep their spoonbills through shallow fresh or salt waters snapping up crustaceans and fish. They fly with necks outstretched, to and from foraging and nesting areas along the coastal southeastern U.S., and south to South America. These social birds nest and roost in trees and shrubs with other large wading birds.

The Roseate Spoonbill is 1 of 6 species of spoonbills in the world and the only one found in the Americas. The other 5 spoonbills (Eurasian, Royal, African, Black-faced, and Yellow-billed) occur in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Australia. We observe Roseate Spoonbills on our trips to Florida quite frequently and have photographed the African Spoonbill while on safari in Kenya.

Roseate Spoonbill chicks don't have a spoon-shaped bill immediately after hatching. When they are 9 days old the bill starts to flatten, by 16 days it starts to look a bit more spoonlike, and by 39 days it is nearly full size.

Roseate Spoonbills get their pink coloration from the foods they eat. Crustaceans and other aquatic invertebrates contain pigments called carotenoids that help turn their feathers pink. Cornell All About Birds

There is also a large Osprey nest out at Las Coloradas. When the Osprey wasn't busy defending the nest from Turkey Vultures it would perch up beside the Spoonbill.

The oldest recorded Roseate Spoonbill was at least 15 years, 10 months old when it was recaptured and rereleased during a scientific study in Florida in 2006.