Wading Birds & Marsh Birds
Roseate Spoonbill
Platalea ajaja
A pink wading bird with a flat, spoon-shaped bill that it sweeps side to side through shallow water. It is becoming a more common sight in the Carolinas in summer.
How to identify it
- Bright pink wings and body; white neck
- Long, flat bill with a spoon-shaped tip
- Bare greenish head
- Feeds by sweeping its bill back and forth
SizeBetween an American Crow and a Canada Goose
American Crow19 in
Roseate Spoonbill31 in
Canada Goose37 in
Great Blue Heron46 in
6 inAverage length, bill to tail
Details
- Size
- 28–34 in long; wingspan 47–52 in
- Weight
- 2.6–4 lb
- Habitat
- Coastal marshes, mangroves, tidal pools and shallow lagoons
- When to see it
- Year-round in Florida and along the Gulf; summer visitor north to the Carolinas
- Diet
- Small fish, shrimp, crayfish and aquatic insects
Range in the United States
Life history
Food
Sweeps its open bill side to side in shallow water, snapping it shut on small fish, shrimp and aquatic insects.
Nesting
A deep platform of sticks in trees or shrubs, often mangroves, in colonies.
- Clutch
- 1–5 eggs
- Incubation
- 22–24 days
- Young
- Fledge at about 6 weeks
- Broods
- 1 per year
Behavior
Feeds in groups, wading slowly through shallow water. Flies with neck stretched out.
Conservation
Recovered from plume hunting; expanding its range northward, including into the Carolinas.
Cool facts
- Its pink color comes from pigments in the crustaceans it eats.
- Young spoonbills are pale and grow pinker over about three years.
- Its bill has sensitive nerve endings that detect prey by touch.
Songs & calls
▶Bird sounds video coming soon
Watch the Roseate Spoonbill
▶Video coming soon
