Roseate spoonbill

Taxonomy

The roseate spoonbill was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the current binomial name Platalea ajaja. Linnaeus largely based his account on the "Aiaia" that had been described and illustrated over a century earlier by the German naturalist Georg Marcgrave in his book Historia Naturalis Brasiliae. Linnaeus specified the type locality as South America but this is now restricted to Brazil. The genus name Platalea is Latin and means "broad", referring to the distinctive shape of the bill; the specific epithet ajaja is from the name for the species in the Tupi language as reported by Marcgrave. The species is treated as monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.

The roseate spoonbill is sometimes placed in its own genus – Ajaia. A 2010 study of mitochondrial DNA of the spoonbills by Chesser and colleagues found that the roseate and yellow-billed spoonbills were each other's closest relatives, and the two were descended from an early offshoot from the ancestors of the other four spoonbill species. They felt the genetic evidence meant it was equally valid to consider all six to be classified within the genus Platalea or alternatively the two placed in the monotypic genera Platibis and Ajaia, respectively. However, as the six species were so similar morphologically, keeping them within the one genus made more sense.

Description

The roseate spoonbill is 71 - long, with a 120 – wingspan and a body mass of 1.2 -. The tarsus measures 9.7 -, the culmen measures 14.5 - and the wing measures 32.3 - and thus the legs, bill, neck and spatulate bill all appear elongated. Adults have a bare greenish head ("golden buff" when breeding) and a white neck, back and breast (with a tuft of pink feathers in the center when breeding), and are otherwise a deep pink. The bill is grey. There is no significant sexual dimorphism.

Like the American flamingo, their pink color is diet-derived, consisting of the carotenoid pigment canthaxanthin. Another carotenoid, astaxanthin, can also be found deposited in flight and body feathers. The colors can range from pale pink to bright magenta, depending on age, whether breeding or not, and location. Unlike herons, spoonbills fly with their necks outstretched. They alternate groups of stiff, shallow wingbeats with glides.

Distribution

In the United States, the species is locally common in Texas, Florida, and southwest Louisiana. Generally, the species occurs in South America mostly east of the Andes, and in coastal regions of the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico, and the Gulf Coast of the United States, and from central Florida's Atlantic coast at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, adjoined with NASA Kennedy Space Center at least as far north as South Carolina's Myrtle Beach.

Plume hunting in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries almost drove the roseate spoonbill to extinction. However, following decades of conservation efforts, and the effects of climate change, the range of the roseate spoonbill has expanded considerably in the 21st century. For instance, the species was recorded breeding in the state of Georgia for the first time in 2011. Moreover, its presence in South Carolina has expanded significantly since the 1970s, as well as a single sighting of the bird in both Michigan and Wisconsin. The last known recorded log of the bird in the state of Wisconsin was of a deceased specimen in 1845 in Rock County. It made an historic reappearance 178 years later when a specimen was sighted by a crew that was doing birding surveys on the restricted-access Cat Island Causeway on July 27, 2023.

In the summer of 2021, sightings of the bird were reported well outside its typical range, including in Washington, D.C., upstate New York, and even New Hampshire. A large flock was spotted in Huntley Meadows Park in Fairfax County, Virginia, drawing a large crowd of spectators. The bird has also been spotted in New Jersey with increasing frequency.

In Florida Bay, roseate spoonbills are an ecological and scientific indicator species. The number of nests varies with both the amount of fresh water and the depth of seawater there, as wetlands turn into open ocean. The birds are choosing to nest further north and inland in Florida, with sharp changes in nest locations noted in the years 2006–2020.

Behavior

Little is known about the roseate spoonbill's behavior outside of their foraging habits. This species feeds in shallow fresh or coastal waters by swinging its bill from side to side as it steadily walks through the water, often in groups. Moreover, the spoon-shaped bill allows it to sift easily through mud.

The bird feeds on crustaceans, bits of plant material, aquatic insects, mollusks, frogs, newts and very small fish (such as minnows) ignored by larger waders. In Brazil, researchers found roseate spoonbill diets to consist of fish, insects, crustaceans, mollusks, and seeds, all foraged from limnetic/freshwater habitats. This habitat specialization, combined with the relative plasticity of great egret foraging behavior, allows the two species to minimize competition during the breeding season. Roseate spoonbills must compete for food with other freshwater birds, such as snowy egrets, great egrets, tricolored herons and American white pelicans. Roseate spoonbills are often trailed by egrets when foraging in a commensal "beater-follower" relationship, as the spoonbill's disturbance of the sediment makes prey more available to the egret (follower).

Roseate spoonbill (Platalea ajaja) young adult Rio Napo.jpg|Young adult, Ecuador Roseate Spoonbill by Dan Pancamo1.jpg|On High Island, Texas, United States Roze Lepelaar.jpg|At GaiaZoo, Netherlands Merritt island-0480.jpg|Foraging roseate spoonbills at Merritt Island, Florida, United States Roseate Spoonbill feeding with Northern Shovellors, Merritt Island.ogv|Video of feeding behavior, Merritt Island, Florida, United States 2019-02-15 074 Roseate spoonbill (Platalea ajaja) at Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve, Mexico.jpg|In flight at Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve, Mexico

Breeding

The roseate spoonbill nests in shrubs or trees, often mangroves, laying two to five eggs, which are whitish with brown markings. Immature birds have white, feathered heads, and the pink of the plumage is paler. The bill is yellowish or pinkish. Nestlings are sometimes killed by turkey vultures, bald eagles, raccoons and invasive fire ants.

Platalea ajaja -parent and two chicks on nest-8a.jpg|Adult with two juveniles on a nest

Conservation and threats

Plume hunting in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries almost drove the roseate spoonbill to extinction. However, it is currently considered not threatened. Information about predation on adults is lacking. In 2022, an 18-year-old banded bird was discovered, making it the oldest known wild individual.

In Florida, roseate spoonbills may be eaten by some growth stage of invasive snakes such as Burmese pythons, reticulated pythons, Central African rock pythons, Southern African rock pythons, boa constrictors, yellow anacondas, Bolivian anacondas, dark-spotted anacondas, and green anacondas.

References

References

1. BirdLife International. (2016). "''Platalea ajaja''".
2. Linnaeus, Carl. (1758). "Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis". Laurentii Salvii.
3. Marcgrave, Georg. (1648). "Historia Naturalis Brasiliae: Liber Quintus: Qui agit de Avibus". Franciscum Hackium and Elzevirium.
4. Berlepsch, Hans von. (1908). "On the birds of Cayenne". Novitates Zoologicae.
5. (1979). "Check-List of Birds of the World". Museum of Comparative Zoology.
6. Jobling, James A.. (2010). "The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names". Christopher Helm.
7. (December 2023). "Ibis, spoonbills, herons, Hamerkop, Shoebill, pelicans". International Ornithologists' Union.
8. (2010). "Molecular phylogeny of the spoonbills (Aves: Threskiornithidae) based on mitochondrial DNA". Zootaxa.
9. "Roseate Spoonbill Life History, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology".
10. Hancock, Kushlan. (1992). "Storks, Ibises, and Spoonbills of the World". Academic Press.
11. (1995). "A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America". Oxford University Press.
12. Brush, A. H. 1990. Metabolism of cartenoid pigments in birds. ''[[The FASEB Journal]]''. 4:2969-2977.
    Fox, D. L. 1962. Carotenoids of the Roseate Spoonbill. ''Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology'' 6:305-310.
    (Mentioned in the [https://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/490/articles/appearance#14.1.1.9 Cornell Lab of Ornithology page]).
13. (1995). "A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America". Oxford University Press.
14. (2014-11-13). "Roseate Spoonbill".
15. "Roseate Spoonbill". National Audubon Society.
16. Dumas, Jeannette V. 2000. [https://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/490 Roseate Spoonbill (''Platalea ajaja'')], The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 2009-11-12. {{Subscription required
17. Graham Jr., Frank. (July–August 2001). "Birds: A Wing and a Prayer". Audubon Magazine.
18. Quinn, Joe. "Huntington Beach State Park in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina: White Heron, Roseate Spoonbill, American Alligator".
19. Schools, Ben. (2020-09-03). "The Roseate Spoonbill: A welcome presence, set to stay".
20. Miles, Suzannah. (2020-10-22). "Follow the colorful life of the roseate spoonbill {{!}} Charleston Magazine".
21. "Tropical Pink Bird Spotted In D.C. For The First Time (It's Not A Flamingo)".
22. "Rarely-seen Spoonbills Draw Fans to Huntley Meadows Park".
23. Nyah Marshall. (September 23, 2024). "This rare, pink bird native to the south was spotted at the Jersey Shore".
24. Waters, Hannah. (Winter 2022). "Flight of the Spoonbills".
25. Dumas, Jeannette V.. (2020). "Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja), version 1.0". Birds of the World.
26. "The Online Guide to the Animals of Trinidad and Tobago - ''Ajaia ajaja'' (Roseate Spoonbill)".
27. "Ajaia ajaja (Roseate spoonbill)".
28. (2015). "The contrasting feeding ecology of great egrets and roseate spoonbills in limnetic and estuarine colonies". Hydrobiologia.
29. Russell, James K.. (1978). "Effects of Interspecific Dominance among Egrets Commensally Following Roseate Spoonbills". The Auk.
30. (2022-04-18). "Oldest Known Roseate Spoonbill Identified Thanks to Lucky Photograph Researchers: Oldest Wild Spoonbill Found - National Audubon Society". Audubon.org.
31. (January 2012). "Final Environmental Assessment For The Large Constrictor Snakes Listed As Injurious Wildlife under the Lacey Act". U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.