Next to the endangered Wood Stork, the Roseate Spoonbill is a top favorite wading bird for me. I never knew this bird existed until a few years after I moved to Florida, and have waited to be able to photograph it ever since. On Sunday, my chance finally came while I was visiting the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Reserve! I cannot tell you how excited I was to see these beautiful birds, and how lucky I am to have had a chance to see them where they were, because they do not often visit this Reserve where they can be seen.

Species: Roseate Spoonbill (Ajaia ajaja)
Age: Juvenile (1st Year)
Location: Loxahatchee National Wildlife Reserve, Boynton Beach, FL

Photo Techs:
Camera: Nikon D100
Lens: Tamron 200-500mm

Settings:
500mm - 1/1000sec @ f/18
ISO: 200
Priority: Aperature
Metering: Spot
Exposure Compensation: -0.7ev
Focus: Auto Continous

About the Roseate Spoonbill

The Roseate Spoonbill is a wading bird of the ibis and spoonbill family, and the only Spoonbill species in the Western Hemisphere. It is a mainly resident breeder in South America, the Caribbean, and the Gulf coast of the USA.

The spatulate bill of this species has an important function. It 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.

Prior to the 1850s, there were probably thousands of spoonbills along the Gulf Coast in Texas, Louisiana and Florida. By 1920, plume hunting and colony disturbance largely depleted the spoonbill population in the United States. A 1999 survey of nesting populations estimated 408 pairs in Florida Bay in the Florida Keys, Merritt Island, Tampa Bay and at two freshwater sites in the Everglades. The Florida Bay population represents the majority of the spoonbills that nest in the state. During the summer, roseate spoonbills are also found in Louisiana, Texas, Mexico, and Central and South America.

Though plume hunting has ceased, spoonbills are still vulnerable today to habitat loss and alteration. In Florida Bay, freshwater inflows from the Everglades adversely affect the salinities of coastal wetlands and the population of fish and other prey. In Florida, the roseate spoonbill is listed as a Species of Special Concern.


Click Here to Report a Banded Spoonbill Sighting

Sources:

• Wildlife Viewing - Species Spotlight - Roseate Spoonbill


• Roseate Spoonbill - Wikipedia

More Information:

• Roseate Spoonbill Species Account - Florida Breeding Bird Atlas


• Ecology of the Greater Everglades (Roseate Spoonbill and Limpkins)


• Response of Roseate Spoonbills Nesting
  in Florida Bay to Hydrologic Restoration