We visited Indian Mound Park early this afternoon. Situated on Lemon Bay here in Englewood, it's a featured stop on the Great Florida Birding Trail. We visit here several times a month to see wading birds and dolphins. It was low tide, so we saw lots of shorebirds. There were Great Blue Herons, Little Blue Herons, Cormorants, Pelicans and White Ibises. We saw some Laughing Gulls foraging with "peeps". Peeps is a birder term used to describe any number of small shorebirds that forage in mixed flocks. There were Willets, Least Sandpipers, Black-Bellied Plovers and Sanderlings. However, the bird that caught our attention today was a beautiful Roseate Spoonbill. They're called Spoonbills because of their color and their long, flat, spoon-shaped bill.
The Roseate Spoonbill and the American Flamingo are pink birds, the similarity ends there. The Roseate Spoonbill is much smaller and more abundant than the Flamingo. Scientists believe that the pink coloration is due to their diet of carotenoid-rich organisms like shrimp. Roseate Spoonbills are resident breeders in South America and in coastal regions of the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico and the Gulf Coast of the U.S.
Males and females are similar in appearance. Adults have a bald head, a red eye, and are pink with crimson markings on the their wings. They have a white neck, back and breast. Second year Spoonbills are like adults, but they are half bald with little or no crimson on their wings. Immature birds (first year) have feathered white heads, white necks and bodies, with a pale pink wash over their wings and bellies. Based on our field guide we believe today's Spoonbill to be a first year bird. Enjoy these photos of the stunning Roseate Spoonbill.....tweet.....tweet!!
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| Roseate Spoonbill (Taken 10/4/12, Englewood FL) |
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| Roseate Spoonbill (Taken 10/4/12, Englewood FL) |
http://floridabirdingtrail.com/index.php/trip/trail/Indian_Mound_Park/
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