 | My name is very fitting for me – I use my spoon-shaped beak to fish for my food in the water. I’m a popular bird among bird-watchers because of my bright colors. If you see a pink bird flying overhead, don’t assume it’s a flamingo – it’s probably me! Most Likely Found: In a pond, In the marsh When: Year-Round Where I've photographed: Alligator Farm, Circle B Bar Reserve, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Polk Rookery, Viera Wetlands |
I have written 75 posts including a photo of a Roseate Spoonbill
June 25, 2011 - Cattle Egret The rookery is definitely starting to wind down. A lot of the birds have fledged, although there are still plenty of chicks and branch-hopping juveniles. I've been watching a couple of Roseate Spoonbill nests over the spring, and a lot of those juveniles weren't around today. I guess…... Read more
June 19, 2011 - Least Bittern The activity at the rookery has certainly changed since my first visit, when the birds were primarily constructing their nests, and we had a single set of Great Egret chicks. Now there are only a few birds on eggs, and there are fledglings everywhere. Herman has counted at…... Read more
June 12, 2011 - Baby Black-Necked Stilt I found these guys on East Gator Creek. First I located their parents by listening – the stilts are very loud when they are in protective mode. After I heard two adults fussing in a particular area, I watched for the chicks. I found these three in…... Read more
May 31, 2011 - Wood Stork chick The Roseate Spoonbills are getting bigger. I did spot a pretty photographable nest in a palm tree that had tiny little guys in it. I'll have to go back soon...... Roseate Spoonbill chick Finally, this Snowy chick posed in a nice window of tree branches. I think…... Read more
May 29, 2011 - Herman took my dad and me out in his boat again this morning. The Polk Rookery has changed considerably since my last visit in March. Then the birds were building their nests, and Great Egrets, Wood Storks dominated the Brazilian Pepper. Today the rookery was filled with fledgling birds of…... Read more
May 14, 2011 - Augustine Alligator Farm's bird rookery. It's right at peak season and the rookery, and the activity is awesome! Some Great Egrets are still building nests, others have tiny babies, and still more have fledglings who know how to leave the nest but still haven't figured out how to feed themselves. …... Read more
May 8, 2011 - Mother and Baby Limpkin https://vimeo.com/338669386 We made our way back out to the Heron Hideout trail, where we looked for Purple Gallinules (none today). Dyeyo spotted a lone Roseate Spoonbill flying over the marsh. I managed to get a few quick shots before he flew out of sight.... Roseate Spoonbill…... Read more
April 17, 2011 - Cattle Egret A Roseate Spoonbill flew past. We saw a total of three this morning (or maybe it was the same bird that moved around as much as we did?) Roseate Spoonbill Then we started crossing the cells diagonally and found a bunch of photographers watching a Great Egret nest. …... Read more
April 3, 2011 - Lesser Yellowlegs Greater Yellowlegs Dyeyo probably wondered if I was going to stand there all morning, taking pictures of these five birds. He finally dragged me away and we continued along Peacock's Pocket, where we found two Roseate Spoonbills! They were in horrible light. I dialed in exposure compensation to…... Read more
April 1, 2011 - My best shot of the morning was this Roseate Spoonbill in flight. He flew into the "sweet spot" of open sky with perfect sun, and the light glistening off his feathers made my jaw drop when I viewed the image in the camera. I love the orange on his tail,…... Read more
March 20, 2011 - Augustine Alligator Farm Rookery, this one is totally wild. There were hundreds of birds there, most of them sporting their breeding plumages. We saw Great Egrets, Wood Storks, Roseate Spoonbills, Black-Crowned Night Herons, White Ibises, Great Blue Herons, Snowy Egrets, Tricolored Herons, Little Blue Herons, Brown Pelicans, Double-Crested Cormorants, Anhingas,…... Read more
January 29, 2011 - Black-Bellied Whistling Ducks A Roseate Spoonbill was in his usual place on Marsh Rabbit Run, just past the "Four Corners" intersection with Heron Hideout.... Roseate Spoonbill We checked for the rails that have been hanging out at the Four Corners intersection.... https://vimeo.com/341231911 Species List: American Bittern, American Coot, American Robin,…... Read more
January 15, 2011 - Mottled Duck At least five Roseate Spoonbills were feeding off on the water.... Roseate Spoonbill A Pied-Billed Grebe fished right in front of the path, swimming right towards me as if to say "I'm not going to be outdone by those silly pink birds." I liked the reflection in the…... Read more
January 9, 2011 - Ring-Billed Gull A group of five or six Roseate Spoonbills dozed close to the trail. We spotted them from a distance flapping around with their wings, but once we moved down closer to them, they went to sleep! We spotted a couple more spoonies a bit farther out in the…... Read more
December 29, 2010 - White-Eyed Vireo Dyeyo joined me as I reached the end of the Marsh Rabbit Run trail. The first thing we saw as we hit the Wading Bird Way (well, besides the obvious pelicans and coots!) was a Roseate Spoonbill asleep on a pile of vegetation very close to the trail. …... Read more
December 17, 2010 - American Kestrel Farther up the Heron Hideout trail, a Roseate Spoonbill was spooning in one of the few remaining pools. Circle B needs a good tropical wave to linger for a few days to raise the water levels in the marsh. For the spoonbill, I had to set negative exposure…... Read more
November 12, 2010 - This morning there were at least one hundred birds, including five or six Roseate Spoonbills, and my first-of-season Greater Yellowlegs and Lesser Yellowlegs.... Roseate Spoonbills A lone Wood Stork stood in the midst of the action.... Species list: Anhinga, American Coot, Bald Eagle, Belted Kingfisher, Black-Bellied Whistling Duck, Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher,…... Read more
October 17, 2010 - Besides seeing the first American Coots of the season, this morning we saw a juvenile Bald Eagle doing some nice close fly-bys, three Roseate Spoonbills, and plenty of Gray Catbirds and Eastern Phoebes.... I saw a single Roseate Spoonbill a few weeks ago, but it's been a long time since…... Read more
September 27, 2010 - Then a Roseate Spoonbill flew overhead next to a Wood Stork!... Roseate Spoonbill Out on Wading Bird Way, we saw a flock of at least a hundred birds out in the distant water.... Species list: Anhinga, Bald Eagle, Belted Kingfisher (heard), Black-Bellied Whistling Duck, Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher, Boat-Tailed Grackle, Cardinal, Common…... Read more
June 11, 2010 - Augustine Alligator Farm's bird rookery had a record-breaking four Roseate Spoonbill nests this spring. Two sets of chicks hatched a few weeks ago, but they are not visible from the boardwalk.... Baby Roseate Spoonbill Dyeyo and I watched and waited for the babies to wake up, and we were rewarded…... Read more
May 8, 2010 - After hearing about all the roosting roseate spoonbills at the St.... Tri-colored heron chick There were many roseate spoonbills roosting in the rookery. Supposedly there are at least three nests with eggs, but we couldn't find them. One of the photographers with the really fancy lenses told me that the…... Read more
February 7, 2010 - Palm Warbler There were several roseate spoonbills at Circle B today. We see so many neat birds here, that I forget that some of these birds are pretty rare. It's fun to see them up close. This one doesn't have the same dark brilliant colors as the spoonies that I…... Read more
January 31, 2010 - Roseate spoonbill There were tons of laughing gulls on Wading Bird Way. This one caught a big fish, then all his buddies ran after him and tried to steal it. Go catch your own fish, silly birds!... Read more
December 23, 2009 - Great Egret (and poor fish) The Heron Hideout wasn't as busy as our last visit, but we did see a bunch of herons, and this roseate spoonbill.... Roseate spoonbill There are so many anhingas at this reserve! The line, "Hey, there's an anhinga displaying!" has almost gotten to be a…... Read more
November 8, 2009 - Tri-colored heron Mixed in with the white ibises and great egrets were a bunch of roseate spoonbills. I'd never seen a spoonbill before, and their bills really do look like spoons! It was fun to watch them fishing.... Roseate spoonbill Rich and I saw an eagle flying over the highway…... Read more