The Sensational Roseate Spoonbill

On a recent trip to Florida, my main objective was to see and photograph a Roseate Spoonbill. While I searched the marshy, coastal area, my friend was leaving the airport, and staring out the window at a strange, pink bird with a spoon-like bill that was standing in one of the small ponds that are everywhere in this beautiful state. You guessed it! It was a Roseate Spoonbill!

The Roseate Spoonbill (Ajaia ajaja) grows to about 32-inches (80 cm) in height with an impressive 50-inch wingspan. While still immature, they are predominantly white. It takes about three years for the birds to mature. In so doing, the beautiful pink feathers appear along with other more subtle color changes. This sensational bird is actually several shades of pink with deep red accents on the upper wings. The tail feathers are orange. The head has no feathers, and is usually a greenish gray color. The eyes are red, and the long neck is white with a black band around the nape. The legs and feet are both red.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of the Roseate Spoonbill is the large, spoon-like bill. Hunting for food and eating, are both done alone or in small groups. The Roseate Spoonbill is a nocturnal bird who feeds at night. The birds wade into the water and hunt for food by moving their bills rapidly back and forth in the water, relying on its ability to feel small fish, crustaceans, and insects. The Spoonbill opens and closes its bill in a snapping motion, thus trapping its prey and eating it while still wading in the water.

Roseate Spoonbills are found throughout the world; along the Gulf of Mexico, widely spread among the West Indies, and into Panama and South America. They are sometimes seen along the Southern California coast. Their habitats tend to be marshes, tidal ponds, rivers, lagoons, and other places that consist of swampy wading areas, and dense vegetation. It is not unusual for small colonies to cohabit areas with herons and egrets. In the United States, their habitat continues to be threatened by real estate development and the drainage programs that are used for insect control.

Roseate Spoonbills are monogamous, mating for life. Courtship rituals are elaborate, with the male presenting the female with nesting material. She then constructs the nest of sticks, twigs, and fine remnants of vegetation. The two birds will bond, and then breed. The female lays a clutch of three eggs that are a dirty white color flecked with brown patches. Incubation is a 22-23 day period, with both parent birds actively participating in raising the young. Immature birds are able to fly somewhere between 35 and 42 days.

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