It's the surprises in birding that are often the most exciting: finding white pelicans wintering in Phoenix; snapping shots of rose-breasted grosbeaks as they make a quick stop in your yard during spring migration north; and, like I did this week, encountering a brand new bird, a roseate spoonbill, on Watson Lake in Prescott, Arizona, hundreds of miles from its normal range.
Vagrants are not unusual in many species of birds. After all, they have the ability to fly, so they can often easily travel great distances if successful in finding food and the climate is agreeable. But the spoonbill is a coastal bird, common in the United States along the Gulf of Mexico in Texas and Florida. However the juvenile that showed up in central Arizona may have come from a closer location, somewhere along the Sea of Cortez or the western coast of Mexico where the bird is also a resident.
Making the arduous journey inland and so far north may have been aided by summer monsoon storms that pull tropical moisture into the state. In addition, an especially successful breeding season in many roseate spoonbill colonies could have supplied a surplus of youths, many of whom have an innate drive to seek out new and distant fertile grounds under the right circumstances. Fortunately, the shallow depth of Prescott's Watson Lake harbors the crustaceans and fish the bird survives on.
The roseate spoonbill is the only spoonbill in the Americas and is one of six species in this genus named for its long, spatulate bill, adapted to scoop up food as it forages along muddy shores. It is in a larger family of birds that also includes the ibis. Coincidentally the spoonbill visiting Prescott has timed its stay during several white-faced ibises' migration south through the area.
Not only with its uniquely-shaped bill, the roseate spoonbill stands out with its pink coloration, similar to that of a flamingo. And just like with that flamboyant bird, this pigmentation comes from a diet rich in crustaceans. Hopefully the individual in Arizona will feast on the same color-inducing diet found south of the border.
Alas, coastal mangrove forests don't exist in Arizona, so it's doubtful the spoonbill will find an ideal place to breed in its current location, let alone as the only one of its species. But in hotter Phoenix, a hundred miles away to the south, two other roseate spoonbills were spotted at the Gilbert Riparian Preserve. With lots of forested and reed-filled borders along the habitat's ponds, maybe the spoonbill will graduate from a vagrant in the area to an occasional resident.
Vagrants are not unusual in many species of birds. After all, they have the ability to fly, so they can often easily travel great distances if successful in finding food and the climate is agreeable. But the spoonbill is a coastal bird, common in the United States along the Gulf of Mexico in Texas and Florida. However the juvenile that showed up in central Arizona may have come from a closer location, somewhere along the Sea of Cortez or the western coast of Mexico where the bird is also a resident.
Making the arduous journey inland and so far north may have been aided by summer monsoon storms that pull tropical moisture into the state. In addition, an especially successful breeding season in many roseate spoonbill colonies could have supplied a surplus of youths, many of whom have an innate drive to seek out new and distant fertile grounds under the right circumstances. Fortunately, the shallow depth of Prescott's Watson Lake harbors the crustaceans and fish the bird survives on.
The roseate spoonbill is the only spoonbill in the Americas and is one of six species in this genus named for its long, spatulate bill, adapted to scoop up food as it forages along muddy shores. It is in a larger family of birds that also includes the ibis. Coincidentally the spoonbill visiting Prescott has timed its stay during several white-faced ibises' migration south through the area.
Not only with its uniquely-shaped bill, the roseate spoonbill stands out with its pink coloration, similar to that of a flamingo. And just like with that flamboyant bird, this pigmentation comes from a diet rich in crustaceans. Hopefully the individual in Arizona will feast on the same color-inducing diet found south of the border.
Alas, coastal mangrove forests don't exist in Arizona, so it's doubtful the spoonbill will find an ideal place to breed in its current location, let alone as the only one of its species. But in hotter Phoenix, a hundred miles away to the south, two other roseate spoonbills were spotted at the Gilbert Riparian Preserve. With lots of forested and reed-filled borders along the habitat's ponds, maybe the spoonbill will graduate from a vagrant in the area to an occasional resident.
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| Juvenile roseate spoonbill at Prescott, Arizona's Watson Lake. |
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| Juvenile roseate spoonbill with mallards. |
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| Bird watchers admiring Prescott's only roseate spoonbill. |
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| Roseate spoonbill with great blue heron; unlike the spoonbill, the heron is one of many on Prescott's Watson Lake. |
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| Roseate spoonbill and its reflection. |
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| Roseate spoonbill flying over Prescott's Watson Lake. |
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