Roseate Spoonbills gather, as if on display. What a sight to behold as we started walking down the trail recently at Orlando Wetlands 💕~!
Tag Archives: Roseate Spoonbill
The Roseate Spoonbills are the only type of spoonbill in the Western Hemisphere. Although they visit us often, their breeding grounds in Florida are mostly in the mangrove swamps and coastal marshes, lagoons and bays south of us (FWC). The birds above are young, as noted by their pale soft pink plumage. As they mature, […]
“Every day I walk out into the world / to be dazzled, then to be reflective.” (excerpt from Long Afternoon at the Edge of Little Sister Pond, by Mary Oliver, Owls and Other Fantasies, 2003)
Actually, the first day was completely overcast, quite chilly and very windy – but beautiful nonetheless! We were treated to sightings of many of the Merritt Island ‘regulars’, only a few of which are pictured here. White Ibis and Cattle Egrets like those above were ubiquitous, and groups of Roseate Spoonbills gathered in the shallow, […]
Adult Roseate Spoonbill above and his younger juvenile friend below were in attendance. You can easily tell who’s who by the differences in the colors of their heads, necks, bills, and the intensity of their pink plumage.They always make quite a showing at the Space Coast Birding Festival💕. These lovelies were all seen on Black Point […]
We encountered a lovely little group of Roseate Spoonbills the other day. This one scarcely lifted his head to look around before digging in again to gulp down some more brunch.Once the Spoonbill turned to face me directly, I couldn’t help but notice his girth (combined with the green duckweed clinging to his bill!). Now, […]
This pair of young Roseate Spoonbills looked quite relaxed as they strolled through the marsh at Merritt Island NWR. These unique pink wading birds use their spatula-shaped bills for foraging in the shallow water, catching their prey by tactolocation.Audubon.org calls Roseate Spoonbills “Gorgeous at a distance and bizarre up close.” The young Rosies are distinguished from older […]
I just can’t get enough of the brilliant pink Roseate Spoonbills, and most birders and visitors to our area feel the same way!The young Spoonie above was getting his bearings on a tall snag on a recent gloomy late afternoon. Looked like he was trying to figure out how to avoid the impending rainstorm.Four days later, this […]
This lovely Roseate Spoonbill was just standing there, high up on a snag, the other evening. I didn’t manage to capture him in flight, or to capture any spectacular show of fluffing up his feathers. But that’s okay . . . just watching him rest there for awhile was enough to brighten my day~! To […]