Roseate Spoonbills
In praise of the pink
The flashy pink bird and her less vibrant babies in the hed gif are Roseate spoonbills, a wading bird in the Ibis family. Similar to flamingos, the Roseate spoonbill gets its color from a diet rich foods containing canthaxanthin, a pigment found in, for example, shrimp and some algae. They use their flat, wide tipped bill for fishing and digging, and their long legs enable them to wade in shallow water as they search for minnows, shrimp, mollusks, insects, small amphibians and water plants. Roseate spoonbills grow to about 2.5 feet tall and have a wingspan of about 4 feet. With an ability to forage in both fresh and saltwater, they may inhabit coastal bays, mangrove forests, swamps or wetlands. They are found throughout much of inland and coastal South America and along the coasts of Central America and the Caribbean. In North America they can be seen in the wetlands of Texas, Louisiana and Florida. Hunted nearly to extinction for their feathers (prized hat adornments in the 18th and 19th century), their population and range has rebounded in the 21st century, with one bird spotted as far north as Wisconsin in 2023.
Today’s video is sourced from photographer and Nikon ambassador Deborah Sandidge. Her Instagram page where the spoonbill video was taken is linked below, and I’ve also included a link to her professional photography page with some gorgeous images. Check ‘em out!
I saw a small flock of spoonbills in a small patch of wetlands on one of the smaller islands in the Galapágos. It was truly magical.
Lovely!