Searching for Spoonbills
A photography road trip story
Thursday, my friend Gina and I went in search of Roseate Spoonbills. Although common in Florida, neither of us had seen one before. They are wading water birds that are exactly what their name says: rose-colored with spoon-shaped bills. They are typically spotted in and around shallow lakes, swamps, and wetlands. The feathers of the juvenile birds are a paler pink. It takes about three years for a Roseate Spoonbill to reach adulthood.
Gina found a website for sightings of Roseate Spoonbills and was surprised that one of the locations was a retainage pond very near my home and a very busy road. That’s the first place we headed and the only location of the day that had Spoonbills — two, to be exact.
The first one was alone in the shallow retainage pond. Spoonbills use their bills as, well, spoons, scraping them against the bottom of ponds in a side-to-side motion to stir up and then scooping up small fish, insects, mollusks, and snails. Like Flamingos, Roseate Spoonbills get their pink color from their diet.
There are six species of Spoonbills throughout the world, but the Roseate Spoonbill is the only one in the Americas. The other species are found in Asia, Australia, Europe, and Africa.
The second Spoonbill was hanging out with a large colony of Wood Storks, another favorite bird of mine. I sometimes see a Wood Stork or two in my neighborhood but the only other time I’ve seen a group of Wood Storks was on a small island on Paynes Prairie.
Although the Roseate Spoonbills we saw were solo, Spoonbills are often seen in large flocks.
At the same location, we saw an adorable Belted Kingfisher atop a tree.
And, the ever-present Great Blue Heron:
And, another common wader around here — the Great Egret:
I was surprised to see so many wading birds, two of which are relatively rare in this area, in a retainage pond behind a large apartment complex on a busy road. You can be sure I’ll be visiting that location often to look for more Roseate Spoonbills and Wood Storks!
© Dennett 2021
