H.J. Ruiz – Avian101

Roseate Spoonbill – Spec. Name: Ajaja Ajaja, (sometimes placed in the larger genus Platalea as Platalea Ajaja)

This is a gregarious wading bird of the ibis and spoonbill family, Threskiornithidae. It is a resident breeder in South America mostly east of the Andes, and in coastal regions of the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico, and the Gulf Coast of the United States.

Roseate Spoonbill

The Roseate Spoonbill is 80 cm (31 in) tall, with a 120–130 cm (47–51 in) wingspan. It has long legs, a long neck, and a long, spatulate bill. Adults have a bare greenish head (“golden buff” when breeding) and a white neck, back, and breast (with a tuft of pink feathers in the center when breeding), and are otherwise a deep pink. The bill is grey. There is no significant sexual dimorphism.

Like the Flamingo, their pink color is diet-derived, consisting of the carotenoid pigment canthaxanthin. Another carotenoid, astaxanthin, can also be found deposited in flight and body feathers. The colors can range from pale pink to bright magenta, depending on age and location.

Unlike herons, spoonbills fly with their necks outstretched. They alternate groups of stiff, shallow wingbeats with glides

The Roseate Spoonbill nests in shrubs or trees, often mangroves, laying 2 to 5 eggs, which are whitish with brown markings. Immature birds have white, feathered heads, and the pink of the plumage is paler. The bill is yellowish or pinkish.

This species feeds in shallow fresh or coastal waters by swinging its bill from side to side as it steadily walks through the water, often in groups. It feeds on crustaceans, aquatic beetles and bugs, frogs and newts and very small fish bigger waders ignore. In the United States a popular and easy place to observe Roseate Spoonbills is “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge in Florida. Roseate Spoonbills sometimes feed near Snowy Egrets, Great Egrets, Tri-colored Herons, and American White Pelicans.

 Photographs are © H.J. Ruiz – “My Backyard Visitors” 

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