Roseate Spoonbill, watercolor on 141lb paper. The Roseate Spoonbill is one of North America's most visually striking wading birds, instantly recognizable by its vibrant pink and rose-colored plumage, which gets its hue from the carotenoid pigments in the crustaceans it eats. Its most distinctive feature is its long, flat, spoon-shaped bill, which it sweeps side to side through shallow water to detect and scoop up small fish, invertebrates, and aquatic insects. Adults have a bare, greenish head, a white neck and back, and wings that deepen to a rich, almost magenta pink toward the body, with orange-red patches on the wings and tail. Standing about 28–34 inches tall with a wingspan of roughly 50 inches, it is a robust bird with long pink legs well-suited to wading in coastal marshes, mangroves, mudflats, and lagoons. Found primarily in Florida, the Gulf Coast, and Central and South America, the Roseate Spoonbill is a social bird often seen feeding and nesting in flocks, and after being nearly wiped out by the plume-hunting trade in the 19th century, it has made a remarkable recovery thanks to conservation efforts.
