Monday, March 02, 2009

Roseate Spoonbill

Last night I returned home from a trip to the east coast of Central Florida. During my time there I visited Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and Canaveral National Seashore, two very special places. Along Black Point Wildlife Drive, I was able to photograph the unusual-looking bird I was most hoping to catch a glimpse of...the Roseate Spoonbill.


Hunted for their beautiful feathers in the 1800's, the Roseate Spoonbills nearly became extinct by the early 1900's. You can easily see how this bird with a built-in eating utensil got its name.


Interesting fact I discovered: a group of spoonbills are known as a "bowl".


Coming in for a landing.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Beautiful! You take such great pix! I so enjoy your site!

Robin

Barrier Island Girl said...

Thank you, Robin.

As I said in this post, I just got back last night. It was very difficult being without a computer for several days, but I surely enjoyed visiting some of the many state and national parks along the central Atlantic Coast.

Thanks for your other comments while I was gone. The tracks in the earlier post were indeed a raccoon!

DJ

Peggy said...

Awesome pictures and those birds are absolutely beautiful!! I used to live close to Merritt Island in Satellite Beach! But never got to see these!

Barrier Island Girl said...

While I would not want to live anywhere but here on my beautiful island, I definitely appreciate the parks, wildlife refuge, and history of the Atlantic coast.

Folks who live anywhere near Merritt Island have a host of interesting places to visit and appreciate nature.

I also enjoyed a stop in St. Augustine on the way back and loved it -- except for the crowd. I managed to hit it during the beginning of Bike Week! Ha!