Roseate Spoonbills follow the ebbing and flowing water in the tidal marshes looking for food. The tide was coming in and this group was moving with it towards the shallower water.
Roseate Spoonbills
The height of the water on the other side is controlled by the SC Department of Natural Resources using trunks that were originally placed when rice was grown in these ponds. Too deep for feeding, the Spoonbills landed in a tree to rest.
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The first morning sun highlighted the pink in these handsome birds. The Roseate Spoonbills often stand in a straight line like this when they are in small groups, sometimes with one outlier.
They either weren’t hungry or there wasn’t much to eat because they got involved with personal grooming and looking around.
An Eagle flew over and that might have distracted them.
There was still some fog in the air as a few of them lifted off and they disappeared into the mist.
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Roseate Spoonbill taking a one legged break.
Two Roseate Spoonbills dropped softly through the fog, disappearing into the reeds.
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The Great Egret was determined not to look even as another noisy Roseate Spoonbill landed in the favorite tree.
The Spoonbills aren’t nearly as elegant as the Great Egrets when they land. Lots of flapping goes on and if another Spoonbill is nearby they often snap their beaks at each other.
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Or, Roseate and Gray if you want to be fancy. Either way I’ve always liked the color combination even if it didn’t make a great background for these photographs. This was a gray day and the mud was gray in this inlet where the tide was just starting to come back in.
A group of fifteen Spoonbills was coming and going looking for the best feeding spots and seemed oblivious to the coating of mud on their legs.
With perfect form this one dropped in…
…for a nice clean landing.
Oops, an extra step as the mud brought him to a stop.
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The reflections of the Roseate Spoonbill taking a wading stroll and the Great Egret perched soaking up the early morning sun intersected without incident.
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The showering Spoonbill finally slowed down and performed a more dramatic, purposeful shake. The water flying off his wings flew in all directions.
The light through his wings highlights the wing structure and coloration.
A final shake before getting back to looking for breakfast.
10/08/2017
Still water, perfect light and a position on a berm above the pond for me yielded some lovely reflections of this Roseate Spoonbill taking a stroll.
He was in no particular hurry, just wandered along
When he moved into the water a small ripple formed behind him.
Do they see that bird looking back at them?
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10/08/2017
Roseate Spoonbills are still around in a couple Wildlife Management Areas we visit along the coast of South Carolina. The bird resources all indicate that they don’t belong here, especially not well into fall, but we have seen flocks of six to forty.
This one was taking advantage of a shallow pond to get cleaned up.
He went through this ritual five or six times that I watched. Too much water in the air becomes blown out in the sun and behind him was shaded so I didn’t get much scenery to go with the shower. This development of the photos adds to the action.
He moved an amazing volume of water flapping his wings up and down.
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