Evening Spoonbill Flight

As many of you know I am always excited by the arrival of roseate spoonbills to our marsh area. The spoonies are not normally a bird we see here, but for the past few years we have been lucky around this time to get a visit by one or more of these big pink goofy birds. Sunday night this one youngster showed up in the marsh along with a group of wood storks which is typical as the spoonbills generally hang around with the woodies. Monday night I went back again to search for this spoonie and did not see it with the wood storks and I suspected it was out in the salt marsh feeding and could potentially fly in soon to join his companions. After a while the spoonbill did indeed come flying in just as I hoped.. but unfortunately it flew in toward the setting sun making the bird severely upper back and side lit and the lighting less than ideal. In the first photo you can see spoonie has a great egret buddy in the background.

The current update is that our young spoonbill picked up a friend last night as a second, brighter pink and older individual came in to join the relatively pale colored youngster. So now we have two and the hope is that more will arrive in the coming weeks!

50 thoughts on “Evening Spoonbill Flight”

einfachtilda on June 27, 2013 at 11:20 am said:

Immer wieder so wunderschön deine Bilder lieber Phil 😉

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- Phil Lanoue on June 27, 2013 at 11:31 am said:
  
  Ich bin sehr glücklich, dass Sie genießen die Fotos 🙂
  
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janmasyn on June 27, 2013 at 11:35 am said:

Wonderful BIF shots Phil.

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- Phil Lanoue on June 27, 2013 at 11:57 am said:
  
  Thank you Jan glad you like the spoonie pics.
  
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pixelspielerei on June 27, 2013 at 12:05 pm said:

I keep my fingers crossed that your hope will be fulfilled! These birds are really beauties! 😛

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- Phil Lanoue on June 27, 2013 at 3:46 pm said:
  
  They are colorful and interesting birds and we hope several show up soon! 🙂
  
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Conor Cullen on June 27, 2013 at 12:11 pm said:

Beautiful shots Phil.

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- Phil Lanoue on June 27, 2013 at 3:52 pm said:
  
  Thanks so much Conor.
  
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Gracie on June 27, 2013 at 12:47 pm said:

Wow Phil. You’ve captured his amazing color. Beautiful!

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- Phil Lanoue on June 27, 2013 at 3:57 pm said:
  
  Thanks very much Gracie they are quite colorful birds and pink is an unusual color.
  I’m just hoping to get some into the salt marsh with late evening setting sun light on them like this photo here:
  https://phillanoue.com/spoonbill-photos-2/#jp-carousel-201
  
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  - Gracie on June 27, 2013 at 4:21 pm said:
    
    Oh wow! How did I miss these photos? They are gorgeous! Would love to see some!
    
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Deb W. Trotter on June 27, 2013 at 2:48 pm said:

Wow! Pink bird feathers. So exotic!! Why do you think roseate spoonbills are coming to your marsh now when they historically have not been frequenters?

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- Phil Lanoue on June 27, 2013 at 4:05 pm said:
  
  There really are sort of exotica aren’t they?!
  Other then a rare isolated individual that might appear for one day the spoonbills were not really seen in our area until 2009 when a group of 11 arrived and stayed for the entire summer and into the fall. None of us are sure why this is but we are happy they like our marsh and continue to return. 🙂
  
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Gunta on June 27, 2013 at 3:34 pm said:

You have me all atwitter for the arrival of more of these wonderful pink feathered friends.

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- Phil Lanoue on June 27, 2013 at 3:59 pm said:
  
  We were really glad to see the second older one show up last night and are hoping more friends of theirs arrive soon.
  They are interesting pink birds but I’m also hoping to see some fly into the salt marsh with late evening setting sun light on them like this photo here:
  https://phillanoue.com/spoonbill-photos-2/#jp-carousel-201
  
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  - Gunta on June 27, 2013 at 5:33 pm said:
    
    Thanks for the link…. didn’t know you had it setup to do a gallery by bird ID…. ALL of those shots are simply marvelous, but you might notice the one I ‘liked’ best? Your pictures are a joy to view….. the one where Mr A makes an appearance right next to the spoonie was interesting, humorous and amazing… all at the same time. 😀
    
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norasphotos4u on June 27, 2013 at 4:02 pm said:

Love the second shot. The wing color is gorgeous

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- Phil Lanoue on June 27, 2013 at 4:09 pm said:
  
  Thanks very much they are colorful and pretty birds.
  
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Katariina Partala on June 27, 2013 at 4:20 pm said:

Pink birds… Perfect!!! I wish we had these in Finland too 😀

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- Phil Lanoue on June 28, 2013 at 4:43 pm said:
  
  Well you have to love the impossibly pink birds! 🙂
  
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Steve Gingold on June 27, 2013 at 7:10 pm said:

I’ve seen just one spoonie and they are very cool birds. I hope you do get a larger population as time goes by, Phil.

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- Phil Lanoue on June 28, 2013 at 4:44 pm said:
  
  Thanks a lot Steve and looks like it’s happening, we got in three more spoonies last night and now have five in the area. They were out this morning and it was great to see their numbers increase!
  
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  - Steve Gingold on June 28, 2013 at 4:48 pm said:
    
    Cool, Phil. 🙂
    
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    - Phil Lanoue on June 28, 2013 at 4:57 pm said:
      
      I plan to head out in an hour or so and see if they might be in the salt marsh feeding. I would love some close photo ops, but I am happy I got some flights this morning. 🙂
      
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Maggie Davey on June 27, 2013 at 7:30 pm said:

My first picture of a Spoonie was down to you, Phil and I love them! I hope you get lots more to show us!

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- Phil Lanoue on June 28, 2013 at 4:45 pm said:
  
  I’m glad you love our big pink goofy spoonies Maggie! Guess what?! Three more came in last night, we have five in the area now!
  
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Andrew on June 27, 2013 at 9:04 pm said:

I love spoonbills. We get Black-faced and Eurasian here. Yours are gorgeous.

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- Phil Lanoue on June 28, 2013 at 4:46 pm said:
  
  They are cool birds Andrew for sure! This one is a youngster, the adults are an even brighter pink and we had more show up last night including two adults!
  
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Maleea Brooks on June 27, 2013 at 9:54 pm said:

Such beautiful birds. Love how the colors show through…..they are worth all their good press!

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- Phil Lanoue on June 28, 2013 at 4:47 pm said:
  
  We love seeing them Maleea, when the spoonies are in nobody works! 😀 We have five now, saw ’em all this morning!
  
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Aian Ramos on June 28, 2013 at 12:27 am said:

lost for words!!! wow!

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- Phil Lanoue on June 28, 2013 at 4:48 pm said:
  
  I’m really happy you like our impossibly pink birds! The adults are even brighter pink!
  
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lylekrahn on June 28, 2013 at 1:50 am said:

You’ve made me a fan of this improbably coloured bird! Glad they’re back. Would you mind sending a couple north?

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- Phil Lanoue on June 28, 2013 at 4:50 pm said:
  
  Everyone it seems that sees one instantly becomes a fan, they literally stop traffic at times. We are thrilled they are back and even better, three more came in last night. I went to check this morning and all five are in the area, and yes I feel compelled to head out later this evening in hopes of getting some close photo ops. I got some flights this morning which was nice.
  I’ll send them your way after we have worn out a few memory cards. 🙂
  
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Solveig on June 28, 2013 at 4:15 am said:

Pretty feathers! I like it.

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- Phil Lanoue on June 28, 2013 at 4:51 pm said:
  
  We really love seeing these pink birds and they often stop traffic!
  
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niasunset on June 28, 2013 at 4:40 am said:

Flight of Pink…. amazing. Thank you dear Phil, love, nia

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- Phil Lanoue on June 28, 2013 at 4:51 pm said:
  
  Thank you Nia, I’m very happy you like our impossibly pink birds!
  
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photographybyjoylene on June 28, 2013 at 7:13 am said:

Ooo, I haven’t seen these before – gorgeous birds and wonderful shots of them! Maybe they will slowly migrate over to our area one day.

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- Phil Lanoue on June 28, 2013 at 4:54 pm said:
  
  Yes they are quite remarkable birds and seem almost impossible at times!
  If you have not already, feel free to check out my spoonbill gallery and previous spoonbill posts.
  
  https://phillanoue.com/spoonbill-photos-2/
  
  https://phillanoue.com/category/spoonbills/
  
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  - photographybyjoylene on July 6, 2013 at 7:20 pm said:
    
    Thanks for the links – I’d have missed this if I hadn’t just found the archive button in the comments section 🙂
    
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    - Phil Lanoue on July 7, 2013 at 1:17 pm said:
      
      Well I really appreciate you taking the time to check them out, thanks. 🙂
      
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Paula on June 28, 2013 at 2:16 pm said:

I can understand your excitement to see them. I hope there will be more of them in your marsh, Phil 🙂 They are beautiful!!!!

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- Phil Lanoue on June 28, 2013 at 4:55 pm said:
  
  Well good news Paula! We had three more show up last night and now have five! I went this morning and saw them so they are still here. I plan to head over again this evening and hope to get some close photo ops!
  
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drawandshoot on June 29, 2013 at 2:22 pm said:

Amazing as always, Phil!

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- Phil Lanoue on June 29, 2013 at 2:44 pm said:
  
  Thanks very much Karen, so glad you like these.
  I have a new post of flight shots upcoming shortly.
  
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Chillbrook on June 30, 2013 at 6:28 am said:

Beautiful shot Phil!

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- Phil Lanoue on June 30, 2013 at 3:54 pm said:
  
  Thanks very much Adrian!
  
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Fergiemoto on July 2, 2013 at 3:57 pm said:

Lovely photos! I love the pink color and graceful look to their wings, but their face appears a bit goofy.

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- Phil Lanoue on July 2, 2013 at 4:24 pm said:
  
  Oh they are plenty goofy alright! Especially when they do things like this:
  
  https://phillanoue.com/2012/07/04/stop-picking-on-me/
  
  Also…
  
  https://phillanoue.com/spoonbill-photos-2/#jp-carousel-750
  
  https://phillanoue.com/spoonbill-photos-2/#jp-carousel-760
  
  https://phillanoue.com/spoonbill-photos-2/#jp-carousel-765
  
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