Roseate Spoonbill 2023: a selection of photos

The Roseate Spoonbill that arrived at Connecticut Audubon’s Milford Point Coastal Center on Thursday, August 24, has not caused quite the elation among birders as the spoonbill that spent three weeks in the area in 2018.

The 2018 bird was the first of that species ever officially observed in the state, and it was a must-see for almost everyone interested in birds.

In the years since, Roseate Spoonbills have shown up in Connecticut two other times. So by now the bloom may be off the roseate.

Still, this year’s visitor is not without its fans. About 30 people climbed the Coastal Center’s observation tower late in the afternoon on Sunday, August 27, to see it in the Charles Wheeler Salt Marsh. A couple of dozen people saw it at Short Beach, in Stratford, and added it to eBird.

Among the observers were Mary Walsh, who photographed the spoonbill at Short Beach and from a boat ramp on the Wheeler Marsh, and Frank Mantlik, a member of the regional board of Connecticut Audubon’s Coastal Center. We’re very happy to use their photos here.

Roseate Spoonbill’s range from South America up through the Carribbean and then along the southeast coast of the United States, where they breed in Florida. Some birds disperse north temporarily after nesting season. They forage in brackish shoals for small crustaceans and fish, which makes the tidal areas around the mouth of the Housatonic River ideal.

Roseate Spoonbills and other beautifully-plumaged birds, such as Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets, were hunted mercilessly in the late 1800s, their feathers used to decorate women’s hats. It was this relentless killing that led to the formation of the Connecticut Audubon Society in 1898, as well as that of other Audubon societies. The slaughter was banned in time to allow the birds to recover, which they did slowly.

The spoonbill visiting this year is an immature bird. Adults are pinker and have bare heads.

If you hadn’t heard about the spoonbill, that might be because you haven’t signed up for our Rare Bird Alerts via text. You can do that here!

Enjoy the photos!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mary Walsh took these photos in the left column as the Roseate Spoonbill waded and foraged in the shallows near Short Beach, Stratford, on Saturday, August 26.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo by Mary Walsh. Note how pale the birds is. Adult spoonbills are pinker.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo by Mary Walsh

Roseate Spoonbill and Laughing Gull. Photo by Frank Mantlik.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The photos in this column were taken by Mary Walsh from a boat ramp on the Wheeler Marsh, near the Milford Point Coastal Center, on Sunday, August 27.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roseate Spoonbill, right, perching near a Great Egret. Photo by Mary Walsh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo by Mary Walsh.

The Roseate Spoonbill is visible on the mudflats beyond the Coastal Center’s Osprey platform. Photo by Frank Mantlik,.