Picture
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D100
Shutter Speed: 1/1000 second
F Number: F/18.0
Focal Length: 500 mm
Date Picture Taken: Feb 25, 2007, 10:44:42 AM
Artist's Comments
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
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.
We've both been having some luck with the roseates it seems!!! Lovely composition here, Shannon. Really, really nice. And a juvenile at that! I haven't seen a juvi yet - at least, not positively. Very sweet.
Congratulations. This is awesome and thanks for all the detailed information about the bird.
Comp is a little bit central for my liking, but that's a personal preference. Nicely done.
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"Failure is always crowned by success if you persist" - Bradford Washburn
Lucky you, Shannon - and well done for getting not just any old photo record, but just a cracking shot. It's a real beauty. And thanks for all the background info too.
I agree about the bird being too center, unfortunately there was little I could do about it as there were other birds and weeds that I did not want to get into the frame. I would also have preffered a bit of a lower angle, but then I would have to have laid down in the fire ant infested dirt
Devious Comments
Excellent work as always!
~ janson
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Florida Wildlife Photography!.
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My Last.fm recently-played tracks!
Comp is a little bit central for my liking, but that's a personal preference. Nicely done.
--
"Failure is always crowned by success if you persist" - Bradford Washburn
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Read my column, my poetry, interviews and short stories at AidanSemmens.co.uk
See my celebration of medieval imagery at Wodewose.co.uk
See also ~Forefathers
I agree about the bird being too center, unfortunately there was little I could do about it as there were other birds and weeds that I did not want to get into the frame. I would also have preffered a bit of a lower angle, but then I would have to have laid down in the fire ant infested dirt
--
"Failure is always crowned by success if you persist" - Bradford Washburn
I am hoping that they will hang out for a while so I can go back to see them again, but I know that is very wishful thinking!
--
Read my column, my poetry, interviews and short stories at AidanSemmens.co.uk
See my celebration of medieval imagery at Wodewose.co.uk
See also ~Forefathers
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