Morning Spoonbill
We were pleased to see one lone roseate spoonbill in the marsh pond early this morning. He was picking around with a few of his egret and heron friends but surprisingly no wood storks or ibis which are the usual spoonbill associates. Once I saw him lift his head, open his yap, and give me that look, I suspected it was time to leave and sure enough, spoonie took off!
He flew over to the salt marsh where we tracked him down, then back across to a far corner of the marsh pond where once again we tracked him down. Photos of our pink friend in those locations will be subjects of upcoming posts. Including one particularly unfriendly encounter with a tricolored heron. 🙂
Phil Lanoue Photography 
Nice shots, Phil–as always!
Thanks very much Sue!
Fantastiche wowwwwwwwwwwww
Thank you Pat!! 🙂
Great pics. Those reflections are great.
Thanks very much I’m glad you like them!
Phil Lanoue, paparazzi of the marsh! Who knew? JK! Great, great photos!
Oh I’m a paparazzi stalker when it comes to these guys for sure! 😀 Thanks Becky!
I can’t think of too many bird images that make me smile more than a spoonie with it’s bill open like in number 2. That said, number one is some fine Spoonbill cheesecake…what a cutie.
I’m partial to photos showing them with the big open yap as well Steve. This one also was raising up hi bill and grunting at me at one point. Fun birds!
The open mouth makes that bill look even more unusual.
Unusual and goofy. But they are fun birds to watch and photograph and gotta love the pink right?! 🙂
The open bill makes me think of a type of medical tweezer. Fantastic shots (as usual)!
That bill would work well if you needed to grab a hot pile of pasta to put on a plate!
Glad you enjoyed these spoonie pics!
They are beautiful birds and your shots are wonderful. I do like the shot with its mouth open, even though it is less the ‘polite’ pose.
They really are fun birds to watch and photograph and that big open bill makes them look all the more, uh, shall I say, interesting. 🙂
They’re just so pretty! Love the last in flight shot and the reflection one… Those are especially bada$$.
They are cool birds and you have to love the pink!
Glad you liked those shots I was particularly happy with that last flight shot.
I love the colors. They are such fun birds and without your photos I wouldn’t get to experience them. No Spoonies in Michigan.
No I don’t imagine you would get the spoonies in Michigan, we barely get them here in SC. 🙂
Thanks very much for checking out these photos!
Fantastic as always Phil. I love the colors on this little guy.
Thank you Edith, glad you enjoyed these spoonie photos and you gotta love the pink!
Right now I am in love with this spoonbill, and it is all your fault 😀
Paula I understand completely. Would you believe it is the spoonbills that got me hooked on bird and wildlife photography?! We had a group of 11 show up in 2009 and we had never seen them before. My first impression was, I have to get good photos of these guys! It all went downhill from there. 😀
Yes, I can understand that, but you got hooked :D. Recently on my holiday to Italy I took a pic of an eagle owl and a hawk in cage and I was thrilled. now, I am searching all zoos and animal shelters in my country 😀
The colour of him is amazing. It is so vivid – did you do much fiddling, I mean post-processing? The reflections are brilliant, and a lovely final shot with him perfectly poised in flight. Lovely series Phil.
They really are fun and amazing birds to see and photograph, and they will literally stop traffic if one or more of them is feeding along the causeway where vehicle traffic goes by. The alligators, especially the big ones, will have similar effect. People just lose their marbles, they jump out of their cars leaving doors flung open, and practically abandon the vehicle to see them.
I didn’t monkey around much at all with these, you don’t have to with these guys, just very minor tweaks in PP. I actually only just shoot jpegs and do very little post in general on everything I shoot. 🙂
I love these, Phil. Quite gorgeous.
Thank you very much Andrew, so glad you enjoyed the spoonie pics!
What a beautiful colours…fascinated me dear Phil, as always you did an artistic shots. Thank you, love, nia
Thank you so much Nia, I’m very happy you love our pink birds!
Amazing shots Phil, the roseate spoonbill is a beautiful Bird.
They really are a lot of fun to watch and photograph Jan, thanks!
Beautiful Bird – wonderful shots!
Thank you I appreciate that very much and I’m happy to know you enjoy the photos!
Beautiful!!!! I really love the last one!!!A real gift to the eyes!
Well I appreciate that very much, thanks!
Excellent shots!!!!
I am happy you like them!
Amazing shots, Phil! Gosh, this bird really wears the most beautiful shade of pink!
Thanks a bunch Gracie, glad you like these and yes indeed he does look quite snappy in pink! 🙂
Hello Phil,
amazing series, love this wonderful bird, your pictures are excellent!
Have a nice day
moni
Thanks moni, I’m glad you enjoyed these spoonie photos and I appreciate your comments!
These are my favorite photos so far (but not more favorite than the gator eating the Croc) ! Love the spoonie in flight – and the pink text (naturally).
Yeah it’s tough to top that hideous Croc getting chomped on by Mr.A! I knew you would be lovin’ the pink text! Thanks!
A truly beautiful animal, graceful and elegant. I can not imagine that a Spoonbill is ever angry with somebody. Great photos, dear Phil, again and again! ▲
I greatly appreciate your very kind words, thanks so much! But if you look at today’s post, out spoonie friend did get a bit angry for just a minute. 😉
For just a minute? So what!? 😛
Beautiful bird and beautiful capture!
Thanks very much Lucy, I’m happy to hear you liked the spoonie pics!
Beautiful shots of the pink! That 2nd picture looks like he’s laughing at you. Ha!
He probably is laughing at me. After all he has to be out there early in the morning, but I could have been home sleeping. 😉
Thanks for checking these out!
He is so good looking, and he knows he is … 🙂 Beautiful pink wings, perfect takeoff. Thank you, Phil!
Well I tremendously appreciate your very kind comments Amy, and it’s great to hear that you really enjoyed these photos of our pink friend!
Fantastic shots of this beautiful bird, Phil. 🙂
Thanks Sylvia, glad you enjoyed these!
surreal colour’s we simply dont see birds like that here
We are lucky to see the occasional pink spoonie here as they are a non native species of our state, but welcome visitors for sure.
In the first photograph, the dark parts of the image worked well to make the spoonbill stand out all the more. (That’s true for most of the other pictures, too, but the first one caught my attention first.) Being able to record one flying, as in the last image, is a coup.
I really like to try to get light colored birds like the spoonbills against a darker background whenever possible. I particularly like them against green trees or marsh grass such as seen here in my spoonbill gallery.
https://phillanoue.com/spoonbill-photos-2/#jp-carousel-767
https://phillanoue.com/spoonbill-photos-2/#jp-carousel-773
Thanks very much for checking these out and I’m glad you enjoyed them Steve.
Gorgeous, gorgeous photos. I love the pink and white contrast on the bird itself, and the further startling contrast with the dark water. Beautiful…
Well thank you so much Deb, I’m very happy you enjoyed these spoonie pics!
My godness what a beautiful creature!!! Fab photos, amazing as always😃
Thanks a million, I’m very glad you liked these spoonbill photos!
Those glorious colours! He must be such a pleasure to photograph, Phil!