Roseate Spoonbill

Listed as a species of special concern due to habitat loss and alteration.

 

Is there a more magical bird than the roseate spoonbill with its pink plumage with

darker pink highlights, long spoon shaped bill, and long legs reflected in a blue pool of water?

 

Roseate Spoonbill: Large ibis, pink body, white upper back, neck. Long bill, gray and spatulate. Head is bare and olive-green.

 

Many tourists mistake the roseate spoonbill for a flamingo because of the pink color.

 

The spoon shaped bill of the spoonbill has sensitive nerve endings that help the spoonbill detect prey. As it sweeps the bill from side to side through shallow water, the spoonbill encounters small fish, shrimp, crayfish, fiddler crabs and aquatic insects, which it snaps up and swallows.

 

Look for the roseate spoonbill in shallow marshes mainly along the coast but can also be seen in inland shallow marshes.

 

Breeding:

One to five brown spotted white eggs are laid in a bulky nest made of sticks and built in a low bush or tree. Incubation ranges from 22 to 24 days and is carried out by both parents.

 

Baby roseate spoonbills are born pale pink to white with feathered heads.

 

Interesting Facts:

A group of roseate spoonbills are collectively known as a "bowl" of spoonbills.

 

Their pink color is a result of eating crustaceans that have fed on algae.

 

Credits:

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Whatbird.com

 

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