Calling all Bird Enthusiasts—Have You Seen a Banded Spoonbill?

Audubon’s Everglades Science Center team has called on bird enthusiasts across the state to search for Roseate Spoonbills and report banded birds.

Staff at the center conduct weekly surveys of Roseate Spoonbill colonies in Florida Bay during nesting season to get nesting and general population data. Two of the colonies have been monitored for 30 years. In 2003, Audubon scientists began applying leg bands to chicks in nests in Florida Bay and in Tampa Bay at the Richard T. Paul Alafia Bank Bird Sanctuary. In 2013, staff also began banding birds hatching from nests at St. Augustine Alligator Farm. In total, Audubon has banded about 3,000 Roseate Spoonbills, which are considered an indicator species for Everglades ecosystem health. Banding spoonbill chicks has led to a greater understanding of dispersal rates and behavioral structures after nesting season in the Florida Bay is over.

Each band resight earns the spotter a special sticker and contributes to critical population data for this iconic Florida species.

“Understanding spoonbills’ behavior gives us clues to changes in water quality and quantity in the Everglades,” said Audubon Florida’s Director of Everglades Policy Kelly Cox. “Spoonbills can also provide warning signals for upcoming changes or shifts to an ecosystem, including rising seas,” she added.

We received 30 reports within the first few weeks of the campaign! Have you seen one? Let us know at: audubon.org/florida/spoonbills. 

Anyone who submits a report in 2025 will receive a limited edition sticker.

Note: Give birds their space when trying to read a bird band. Use binoculars or a long zoom lens to avoid spooking or flushing the birds.

This article was published in the State of the Everglades Report/Spring 2025 edition