Roseate Spoonbills

I remember visiting the Florida Everglades as a young college kid and stumbling across a small flock of Roseate Spoonbills. Seeing this unique and colorful bird again has been at the top of my priority list since I began birding and blogging about it a little over a year ago. This Sunday morning, as I often do, I was pursuing the list of recent bird sightings on the Tropical Audubon Society's Miami Bird Board and I saw that one of our local bird-watching rock stars had spotted a flock of Spoonbill the previous afternoon at the Cutler Wetland. So I packed up my gear and headed out to the Wetland. When I arrived it was teeming with as many different birds species as I can remember being there in the past. There were various types of ducks, coots, dowitchers, sandpipers and american avocets -- but no spoonbills. Regardless, I stayed there for over an hour snapping photos and enjoying the outdoors. Then, as I was packing up to go, a lady came by and told me that there was a flock of pink birds on the other side of a pond down the street. I jumped in the car and raced over and sure enough, there were approximately twenty Roseate Spoonbills resting on the far end of the pond. They were a little too far away for my 400mm lens, but I was able to get a few photos that were at least good enough for evidence.

Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja)

Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja)

Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja)

Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja)

Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja)

Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja)