Roseate Spoonbill

Description:

A bizarre wading bird, the bright pink Roseate Spoonbill uses its odd bill to strain small food items out of the water. 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 and location. 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.

Habitat:

Lake Martin Bird Sanctuary is located in southwest Louisiana near Breaux Bridge. This is a large rookery, however the residents say that there are not as many birds here as in the past.

Notes:

Resting on a nest on one leg with head tucked.