Feb. 17, 2013 - Roseate Spoonbills

Several times during our stay on Sanibel Island, I drove through Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. The most spectacular birds on the refuge are the beautiful Roseate Spoonbills. They can sometimes be found feeding in the pools right next to the wildlife drive. At 2½ feet tall, they are fairly large birds.

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This spoonbill is feeding near the mangroves. The bald head (I can relate to that) and dark red feathers indicate this is an adult bird. Also note the touches of yellow just ahead of the wing and on the tail and the bright red eye.

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This bird is a juvenile. In contrast to the adult above, it has feathers on its head and lighter pink plumage. Look between the upper and lower mandibles to see the food item it just caught.

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This is how spoonbills feed. With their bill in the water and slightly open, they move it from side to side. The bill is very sensitive and as soon as it contacts something, it snaps shut. This allows them to feed in murky water because they don’t need to see their prey.

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It looks like this bird is pretending to be a fountain. Actually, it was raising its bill out of the water and I was shooting at a fast enough speed (1/1000 second) to stop the action as the water dripped off.

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Time for a stretch!

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Here’s a good top view of that unique bill. It looks much too cumbersome to preen individual feathers but the spoonbill does manage to do that.

I was really fortunate to get so many good spoonbill photos this year. I’ve put over 40 of them in a special gallery on my web site. Here’s a link to that gallery.
http://www.earlorfphotos.com/Birds/Roseate-Spoonbills-Jan-2013/27904988_qFRNcZ#!i=2357723927&k=sf38ZMG

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