Roseate Spoonbill
- Family
- Threskiornithidae
- Conservation status (IUCN)
- Least Concern 4
Where and when to see the Roseate Spoonbill
DraftOn the Yucatán Peninsula
It feeds in shallow coastal lagoons, mudflats and mangroves, often among egrets and ibises. Look for a flash of pink as small groups sweep their bills through the water.
Where it’s reported most
- CelestúnCelestún, Yucatán
- Punta Sur, CozumelCozumel, Quintana Roo
- El Corchito ReserveProgreso, Yucatán
- HolboxLázaro Cárdenas, Quintana Roo
When
All year · most reports Sep–Oct
Most reports from September to October.
Reports relative to effort
- January: 64%
- February: 69%
- March: 72%
- April: 58%
- May: 61%
- June: 58%
- July: 47%
- August: 60%
- September: 100%
- October: 85%
- November: 68%
- December: 56%
Data: eBird and other datasets via GBIF.org (CC BY 4.0), 2015–2026 · Base map: Natural Earth
Feeds by sweeping its partly open bill side to side through shallow water, snapping it shut on whatever it touches. Common in the mangrove lagoons of Holbox and Sian Ka'an.
- Identification
- A big pink wader with a long, flat, spoon-shaped bill, carmine-red shoulders, a white neck and an orange-tawny tail. Adults have a bare greenish head; young birds are paler, with feathered white heads.
- Voice
- Mostly silent: low croaks and clucks around flocks.
What the photo doesn’t show
DraftFishing by feel
It feeds by touch: it walks through shallow water swinging its half-open bill from side to side, and the “spoon” snaps shut the moment it touches a fish or shrimp. 1,2
The only colourful one
It is one of six spoonbill species in the world, the only one in the Americas and the only one with bright plumage; the rest are mostly white. It is also the only one whose head goes completely bare as it matures. 1
Pink from its diet
Like the flamingo, it gets its pink from food: the colour is a carotenoid pigment, canthaxanthin, taken in with its prey. Depending on age and season it ranges from pale pink to deep magenta. 3
Wings sold as fans
Plume hunters nearly wiped it out in the 1800s. As early as the 1830s, John James Audubon saw its wings being sold as fans in St. Augustine, Florida. 1,3
Sources
- Birds of the World (Cornell Lab): Roseate Spoonbill (opens in a new tab)
- Audubon Guide to North American Birds: Roseate Spoonbill (opens in a new tab)
- Wikipedia: Roseate spoonbill (opens in a new tab)
- IUCN Red List category, via GBIF: Platalea ajaja (opens in a new tab)
Map and months: 5,273 records from 2015–2026 from eBird, iNaturalist, and others, via GBIF.org (CC BY 4.0), in 0.1° squares (about 10 km). eBird: doi.org/10.15468/aomfnb.
Months: the species’ records ÷ all bird records that month, scaled to the busiest month. It allows for birding effort; it is not the chance of seeing it. A blank square: few or no reports, not necessarily absent.
Tell us where, or ask how to find one.
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