N
ot too many years ago I saw my first roseate
spoonbill. Formally named Platalea ajaja,
the spoonbill is a member of the same
family as the ibis, Threskiornithidae. I
remember quite clearly that I was on the Briar’s Creek golf
course and saw this fantastic pink-hued bird on the edge of
one of the course’s lagoons. Not surprisingly, my first action
upon arriving home was to comb the internet for information
about the bird. Google being all-knowing, a simple search on
“pink bird” immediately identified it as a roseate spoonbill
(since it was clearly not a flamingo or a parrot!). Many of
us spotted it over the next few days, and then it was gone,
seemingly for good.
The spoonbill is a beautiful bird, blessed with long pink
legs and a pink, football-shaped body. Their long white necks
and head are augmented by a long, spoon-shaped bill that
is most useful for scooping up prey from the marshes and
lagoons where they hunt. Typically, they will nest in trees
above the waters of lagoons and other wetlands. The National
Audubon Field Guide lists their habitat areas as Southern
Florida, Coastal Texas and Southwest Louisiana, although
Wikipedia also mentions areas “as far north as Huntington
Beach State Park” in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina.
Virtually eliminated from the United States in the mid-
1800s due to demand for their plumage and destruction of
their habitat, spoonbills are still listed as “uncommon and
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vulnerable.” My second spoonbill sighting happened one
afternoon a year or two later on my way to the Ocean Course.
There it was, standing very high up in a tall tree across from
Willett Pond. After my first experience, I had thought of
the spoonbill as a wading bird and so was surprised to see it
so high above the earth—a spot where typically you would
expect to see ospreys or hawks. Once again, this spoonbill
was alone, and I never saw it again.
This past summer I spotted three or four spoonbills over
the course of a week or two feeding in the marsh across from
the dock on Rhett’s Bluff Road. This was also the first time I saw
a spoonbill in flight—quite a sight considering its wingspan of
up to five feet. Soon afterward, I was delighted to see a single
spoonbill seemingly adopted by some egrets in the lagoon of
Cougar Point’s third green, which happens to be in my back
yard. He or she was a smaller bird than the others I’d seen
and never returned after the winds from Hurricane Florence
came through.
Late this past February, I was invited by a good friend
to visit a large group of spoonbills roosting on Seabrook. I
estimate that there were about 30 birds spreading themselves
across a copse of trees surrounding the lagoon. Happily for
me, the birds were quite active, and I was able to catch several
of them in action. My friend has invited me to return should
they decide to nest and raise chicks there. Rest assured I will
definitely take her up on her offer! NK
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