The Roseate Spoonbill

 If I've said it once....I've said it a dozen times! 

The Roseate Spoonbill is my MOST favorite Florida bird.

We rarely see it in the wild so that makes it a thrill.

This was a day trip to the Gulf of Mexico and we parked and hiked to the observation platform at the end.

But we watched these birds flying overhead from the time we got out of our vehicle.

And it is such a unique bird. When I searched online to read more about it, I found this quote from the audubon website HERE. " Gorgeous at a distance and bizarre up close is the Roseate Spoonbill."

We saw two of them and I think the one in flight is an adult and the one we watched eating is a juvenile.

They are so comical when they eat. They stand in the same spot and swing their head from side to side foraging in the shallow water. They have wide flat bills that sift the muck and uncover food.

We had a wonderful day on the coast and saw lots of beautiful birds! 

One more favorite!

Little Blue Heron

It's HOT so the hikes are shorter but it's still great to get outside.

Railroad vine also known as a beach morning glory

Are you enjoying some summertime outings?

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

  and Mosaic Monday HERE !  

The Roseate Spoonbill, my Florida Favorite

 It's hard to pick a favorite bird when you live in Florida! 

But I fell in love with the Roseate Spoonbill when I first moved here.

And we've only had a few sightings of this beautiful pink bird 'in the wild' over the years.

You would think you could go to the same trails and see the same sights but that's not at all true here in North Central Florida. 

My husband and I went over to the Halpata Tastanaki Preserve and hiked from the Pruitt Trailhead a week ago and looked up in the sky and saw Roseate Spoonbills!

 

It was cloudy and they showed up nicely against the grayish silver sky. Later we saw another one fly over when we were having a snack.

Roseate Spoonbill flock, Cedar Key

I looked back at posts that have featured the Roseate Spoonbill and found the one of our sighting of a flock of them in Cedar Key, back in July 2012 HERE.

That was the first time I had seen them in the wild and I wasn't even sure what they were!

We can see them at Ellie Shiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park.

This is a mosaic I made of photos we took there a couple of years ago and posted them HERE.

Close up of their feathers

So that was our excitement on Hike #104! We also had a really good sighting of an Owl but only one photo. I stood there and watched it fly by without even lifting my camera but hubby got one. It was amazing!

Owl in flight

I went back over to this trail a week later and didn't see any of the same birds. Time and chance!

Roseate Spoonbill

Hope you can get out in nature this week and see something neat. Time and chance...but you have to get out there often for that to work in your favor!

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

and I’d Rather B Birdin’.