Posts Tagged: Roseate Spoonbill

Roseate Spoonbill feeding with bill in water

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Roseate Spoonbill wading, feeding with bill in water

I was roaming around a wetland in Florida and found this Roseate Spoonbill wading in the water, feeding with its bill in the water. He or she looked toward me but proceeded to feed by sweeping that huge spatulate shaped spoonbill through the water back and forth. They as surprisingly effective feeders because the nerve endings in the bill sense prey and snap the bill shut on everything it encounters. This is the only spoonbill native to North America and the only pink wading bird native to North America.

Pink

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Roseate Spoonbill in flight, descending against soft blue sky (sandra calderbank)
There isn’t very much in nature that is naturally pink except for flowers so who can resist a pink bird?
The Roseate Spoonbill has bright pink wings and dark pink “shoulders”. These birds have a large spatula shaped bill and a naked head. The spoonbill makes it easy for them to catch  the crustaceans they love to eat. They are wading birds, and the only Spoonbill species in the Western Hemisphere.  These large birds are a beautiful shade of pink apparently because of their diet but they are gorgeous in flight and they are PINK!