First Spoonie!

This morning we started to receive reports that a roseate spoonbill had been spotted at the marsh. This would be the first sighting of one of our pink spoonie friends for the year so we excitedly rushed over.

By the time we got there the spoonbill had (of course) flown off and gone back deep into the swamp where it could not be seen.

We hung around for a while hoping he would fly back out and sure enough he did. The spoonbill flew out high across the marsh, then circled around flying across the trees before landing along the far edge where he stayed for only a moment before heading back over to the swamp again for the day.

He might come back out later this evening and hopefully go check out the salt marsh for low tide. But in any case it was nice to see one of these fun and interesting birds again. It’s been a long 9 months since our last pink visitors were here and we certainly hope lots of this guy’s friends show up soon!

31 thoughts on “First Spoonie!”

Hillechien Prins on July 20, 2015 at 3:05 pm said:

Wow

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- Phil Lanoue on July 20, 2015 at 3:10 pm said:
  
  Thanks much for looking!
  
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Judy on July 20, 2015 at 4:11 pm said:

I love them all, but really like the position of the wings and feathers on the last one

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- Phil Lanoue on July 20, 2015 at 5:12 pm said:
  
  Thanks very much for looking and glad you liked seeing the spoonbill!
  
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ron brown on July 20, 2015 at 5:06 pm said:

beautiful shots .. great color . thanks

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- Phil Lanoue on July 20, 2015 at 5:13 pm said:
  
  I appreciate you looking and commenting and I’m happy you enjoyed seeing the pink spoonie.
  
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naturesnippets on July 20, 2015 at 7:27 pm said:

Beautiful pictures. I wonder that the advantage is for being pink?

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- Phil Lanoue on July 21, 2015 at 5:02 pm said:
  
  That’s a good question and I can’t think of any real advantage to being pink. I don’t think they have to worry about predators (well except for alligators who don’t care what color a bird is) so it probably doesn’t matter too much.
  Glad you liked the spoonie pics.
  
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  - naturesnippets on July 21, 2015 at 7:22 pm said:
    
    your pictures really fascinate me!
    
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    - Phil Lanoue on July 21, 2015 at 8:11 pm said:
      
      I’m very happy to hear that, thanks much!
      
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LeslieN on July 20, 2015 at 7:53 pm said:

Beautiful photos! Have been waiting on your Spoonie pics. So glad you were able to catch the return of this one. It seems to me to have been such a strange “bird” season this year. Hope more spoonies soon return to join this one. Any word on Radar yet?

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- Phil Lanoue on July 21, 2015 at 5:04 pm said:
  
  Thanks so much for checking these out!
  Oh boy, still no sightings of our pal Radar. We are not yet ready to presume he is dead, but are concerned.
  We all look for him every day. If there are 100 egrets around we have someone with a scope looking at them all.
  
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Angela on July 20, 2015 at 8:07 pm said:

Beautiful colours on the spoonie.

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- Phil Lanoue on July 21, 2015 at 5:04 pm said:
  
  Yes you have to love a big pink bird!
  
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anotherday2paradise on July 20, 2015 at 9:51 pm said:

Absolutely fabulous to see your first Spoonie of the season! You certainly got some great shots, Phil. 🙂

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- Phil Lanoue on July 21, 2015 at 5:07 pm said:
  
  Thanks so much Sylvia glad you liked seeing our pink friend.
  We don’t know whether he is late or early. Some used to always show up end of June or first few days in July which would make him late. But last summer none showed up until Aug 1 so who knows? 🙂
  
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Roy on July 20, 2015 at 10:09 pm said:

roseta spoonbills are very common in salt marsh of south Louisiana. The food they eat turns them more pink. Crustacean are big in their diet. Great picture. What size lens do you use most of the time?

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- Phil Lanoue on July 21, 2015 at 5:08 pm said:
  
  They do love to eat a lot of the small glass shrimp we have in the salt marsh. But they eat small fish too.
  Thanks for looking and commenting. I usually use a 300 with a 1.4 extender attached making it a 420.
  
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Gunta on July 20, 2015 at 10:45 pm said:

I think I’m falling in love with these pink visitors of yours. Great shots.

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- Phil Lanoue on July 21, 2015 at 5:10 pm said:
  
  I don’t think there is any bird or any aspect of wildlife that I have more pictures of. I can’t help myself, when these guys come in I try to physically stop myself from taking more but I always end up with lots anyway. Gotta love these guys!
  
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Noel Williams ...www.klassicportraits.com...www.photopincher.com on July 20, 2015 at 11:23 pm said:

Awesome! I truly thank you for sharing this post. Keep shooting.

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- Phil Lanoue on July 21, 2015 at 5:10 pm said:
  
  Well I greatly appreciate you looking and commenting, thanks and glad you liked seeing the spoonie!
  
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Lyle Krahn on July 21, 2015 at 8:50 am said:

They are a beautiful bird all right – especially with that green background.

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- Phil Lanoue on July 21, 2015 at 5:12 pm said:
  
  Green trees or reeds is my absolute 100% favorite background for these birds too! Something about the way the pink stands out. Glad you enjoy seeing that as well.
  
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lynn on July 21, 2015 at 12:16 pm said:

So beautiful! Keep up the good work!

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- Phil Lanoue on July 21, 2015 at 5:12 pm said:
  
  I appreciate that very much thank you!
  
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Raewyn's Photos on July 21, 2015 at 3:14 pm said:

What a beautiful bird. Great captures as always

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- Phil Lanoue on July 21, 2015 at 5:13 pm said:
  
  Thanks a million for the kind words and glad you enjoyed seeing the big pink guy!
  
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foxleylady on July 22, 2015 at 4:45 am said:

Thea’s first look at a spoonie – she was most impressed “Very gorgeous!” was the comment! She and I both loved the last one – like something from Swan Lake – only pink!

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The Lite Rider on July 22, 2015 at 3:42 pm said:

Came to this series in reverse order. Saw the newest one first, and am glad this guy made another appearance. Beautiful bird. I just love the spoonies!

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Linda on July 29, 2015 at 7:21 am said:

Beautiful pink spoonie, what a beautiful shot of such a beautiful bird. Never saw in person a pink bird…..love these pictures, it does remind me of Swan Lake…..

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