Illustration © David Allen Sibley.
Learn more about these drawings.
Text © Kenn Kaufman, adapted from
Lives of North American Birds
Photo: Bill Dix/Audubon Photography Awards
Roseate Spoonbill
Platalea ajaja
| Conservation status | Very common in parts of the southeast until the 1860s, spoonbills were virtually eliminated from the United States as a side-effect of the destruction of wader colonies by plume hunters. Began to re-colonize Texas and Florida early in 20th century. Still uncommon and local, vulnerable to degradation of feeding and nesting habitats. |
|---|---|
| Family | Ibises and Spoonbills |
| Habitat | Coastal marshes, lagoons, mudflats, mangrove keys. Forages in shallow water with muddy bottom, in both salt and fresh water, including tidal ponds, coastal lagoons, extensive inland marshes. Nests in colonies, in Florida mainly in red mangroves, farther west in willows or on coastal islands in low scrub, including mesquite and salt cedar. |
Photo Gallery
Feeding Behavior
Forages by wading in shallow muddy water, sweeping bill from side to side with mandibles slightly open, detecting prey by feel. Sometimes picks up items that it has found by sight.
Eggs
2-3, sometimes 1-5. White, spotted with brown. Incubation is by both sexes, 22-24 days. Young: Both parents feed young. Young clamber about near nest, may leave nest after 5-6 weeks, capable of strong flight at roughly 7-8 weeks.
Young
Both parents feed young. Young clamber about near nest, may leave nest after 5-6 weeks, capable of strong flight at roughly 7-8 weeks.
Diet
Small fish, aquatic invertebrates. Diet is mostly small fish such as minnows and killifish, also shrimp, crayfish, crabs, aquatic insects (especially beetles), mollusks, slugs. Eats some plant material, including roots and stems of sedges.
Nesting
Breeds mainly during winter in Florida, during spring in Texas. Nests in colonies. At beginning of breeding season, entire flock may suddenly fly up, for no apparent reason, and circle the area. In courtship, male and female first interact aggressively, later perch close together, present sticks to each other, cross and clasp bills. Nest site is in mangroves, tree, shrub, usually 5-15' above ground or water, sometimes on ground. Nest (built mostly by female, with material brought by male) a bulky platform of sticks, with deep hollow in center lined with twigs, leaves.
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- All Seasons - Common
- All Seasons - Uncommon
- Breeding - Common
- Breeding - Uncommon
- Winter - Common
- Winter - Uncommon
- Migration - Common
- Migration - Uncommon
Songs and Calls
Low croaks and clucking sounds.How climate change could affect this bird's range
In the broadest and most detailed study of its kind, Audubon scientists have used hundreds of thousands of citizen-science observations and sophisticated climate models to predict how birds in the U.S. and Canada will react to climate change.
Read more: climate.audubon.org
Each map is a visual guide to where a particular bird species may find the climate conditions it needs to survive in the future. We call this the bird’s “climatic range.”
The colors indicate the season in which the bird may find suitable conditions— blue for winter, yellow for summer (breeding), and green for where they overlap (indicating their presence year-round).
The darker the shaded area, the more likely it is the bird species will find suitable climate conditions to survive there.
The outline of the approximate current range for each season remains fixed in each frame, allowing you to compare how the range will expand, contract, or shift in the future.
The first frame of the animation shows where the bird can find a suitable climate today (based on data from 2000). The next three frames predict where this bird’s suitable climate may shift in the future—one frame each for 2020, 2050, and 2080.
You can play or pause the animation with the orange button in the lower left, or select an individual frame to study by clicking on its year.
Roseate Spoonbill In the News More News
Science
The Real Reason Behind This Year’s Bizarre Spoonbill Sightings
The exotic pink birds appearing up north are part of a larger wading bird wave, driven by this summer's breeding boom on the Gulf Coast.
Press Room
Congress Approves Critical Water Projects: Natural Infrastructure and Everglades
Bill Provides Important Wins for Birds, People and Ecosystems Nationwide. “More cement isn’t the answer.”
News
Invasive Reptiles Are Taking Over Florida—and Devouring Its Birds Along the Way
Birds like Roseate Spoonbills and Burrowing Owls are ending up in the stomachs of hungry pythons and Nile monitors. Is it too late to stop them?
