A pink waterbird with a large spoon-shaped bill.
Adults have vivid pink plumage, red eyes and a partly bare head.
Roseate Spoonbills forage after sunset, too. At Fort De Soto County Park in Tampa Bay, Florida, researchers used 17–18 infrared cameras from dusk to dawn during two sampling periods between 4 October 2023 and 24 July 2024, across different habitats. Foraging was recorded in 20 of 27 spoonbill observations. Activity continued from dusk through dawn, with a prominent peak around midnight.
Cameras faced both open water and mangroves, and most nocturnal foraging was recorded over open water. The researchers found no significant association between spoonbill foraging and measured tide height, tide direction, sky brightness, or temperature. In shallow water, Roseate Spoonbills sweep their sensitive, spoon-shaped bills from side to side as they search for prey.
IUCN Red List · Least Concern (LC) · Global, species-level assessment
BirdLife International’s 2025 IUCN global assessment lists the Roseate Spoonbill as Least Concern (LC), with a stable population trend. It estimates 68,500–171,000 mature individuals, while rating the estimate’s data quality as poor and calling for further validation. Florida lists the species as state-designated Threatened. Researchers in Florida Bay tracked nesting outcomes, water levels and fish in the foraging wetlands over many years. As water levels recede, prey fish gather in deeper refuges, creating periods when spoonbills can obtain more food to carry to their young. The study concludes that water-level-driven prey concentrations help provide enough food to raise chicks.