---
title: "What the sources say about the Roseate Spoonbill | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "43 claims from the Roseate Spoonbill profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
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---

# What the sources say about the Roseate Spoonbill (*Platalea ajaja*)

> 43 claims from the Roseate Spoonbill profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [Roseate Spoonbill](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/roseate-spoonbill/)

## Ajaia ajaja (roseate spoonbill). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Ajaia_ajaja/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| averages about 1 kg | Average mass 1036.97 g (note: 1036.97 g rounded to about 1 kg) |
| Its range runs from southern Georgia and Florida through Central America, the Caribbean and South America to Argentina | Roseate spoonbills occur from southern Georgia and Florida, south through Central
American, the Caribbean, and South America to Argentina. (note: source's own text reads "Central American" (typo for Central America)) |

## Roseate spoonbill. Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.

https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/roseate-spoonbill

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Its diet typically includes minnows, small crustaceans, insects and bits of plants, and it feeds in the early morning and evening hours. | the roseate spoonbill's diet typically includes minnows, small crustaceans, insects and bits of plants. They feed in the early morning and evening hours |
| It reaches a height of up to 80 cm, with a wingspan of up to 120 cm | Reaching a height of up to 2.5 feet (80 centimeters), the roseate spoonbill's wingspan can stretch 1.5 times as wide, reaching up to 4 feet (120 centimeters). |
| It can live an estimated 10 years in the wild and up to 15 years in human care. | They can live up to 15 years in human care and an estimated 10 years in the wild. |
| A newly hatched chick has mostly pink skin under a sparse covering of white down. | A newly hatched chick has mostly pink skin with a sparse covering of white down. |
| Young birds are duller in appearance and brighten as they mature. | When they are young, the birds are duller in appearance, brightening as they mature. |
| The Florida population usually nests in red and black mangroves, while Texas and Louisiana birds often nest on the ground on offshore islands, in mixed colonies with gulls, terns and herons. | The Florida population usually nests in red and black mangroves sometimes with wood storks, while the Texas and Louisiana populations often nest on the ground in offshore island mixed colonies with gulls, terns and herons. |
| The female builds a deep, well-constructed nest of sticks from material brought by the male. | Female spoonbills create deep, well-constructed nests out of sticks using materials brought to them by males. |
| both parents share incubation, which lasts about 22 to 24 days | Both parents share incubation duties, which last about 22 to 24 days. |
| By six weeks old, a chick has developed wing feathers large enough for flight. | by six weeks, it will have developed wing feathers large enough for flight |
| Usually mangroves and marsh-like areas, feeding in both fresh and saltwater wetlands | Roseate spoonbills usually live in marsh-like areas and mangroves ... They feed in the early morning and evening hours in both fresh and saltwater wetlands. |
| Typically minnows, small crustaceans, insects and bits of plants | the roseate spoonbill's diet typically includes minnows, small crustaceans, insects and bits of plants |
| It is believed to come from their food: the pigments of the crustaceans a roseate spoonbill eats are thought to give it its bright coloring. | It is believed the roseate spoonbill receives its bright coloring from the pigments of the crustaceans that it eats. |
| Their breeding range extends south from Florida through the Greater Antilles to Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. | Their breeding range extends south from Florida through the Greater Antilles to Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. |
| Between 1850 and 1890 their numbers dropped dramatically as hunters killed them for their feathers, and by the 1930s just 30 to 40 breeding pairs were nesting on the keys of Florida Bay. | Between 1850 and 1890, the number of roseate spoonbills dropped dramatically as hunters began killing the birds for their feathers ... By the 1930s, the population dropped to a low of 30 to 40 breeding pairs nesting in a few small colonies on the keys of Florida Bay. |
| They began to rebound once they gained full legal protection from hunting. | The species eventually began to rebound, especially in isolated areas, once they gained full legal protection from hunting. |

## Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja), overview. Neotropical Birds Online, Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

https://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/Species-Account/nb/species/rosspo1/overview

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| The pink wader that hunts by touch, swinging a slightly open spoon-shaped bill through the shallows and snapping it shut when it contacts prey. | the Roseate Spoonbill frequents shallow aquatic habitats and feeds by tactolocation: While walking, it swings its head and the slightly open “spoon” of its bill in the water from side to side in a semicircular motion. The bill snaps shut when it contacts prey |
| Like all other spoonbills, it feeds by tactolocation. | Like all other spoonbills, the Roseate Spoonbill frequents shallow aquatic habitats and feeds by tactolocation |
| The roseate spoonbill is also the only spoonbill whose head becomes completely unfeathered and colorful as the bird matures. | It is also the only spoonbill whose head becomes completely unfeathered and colorful as the bird matures. |
| Feather hunters began decimating the U.S. population as early as the 1830s, when John James Audubon saw spoonbill wings sold as fans in St. Augustine, Florida. | Historical records indicate that the U.S. population was more abundant before the plume-hunting era than today. It was decimated by feather hunters beginning as early as the 1830s, when John James Audubon saw Roseate wings being sold as fans in St. Augustine, Florida |
| Breeders persisted in only a few places in Florida and Louisiana into the 1940s, and the species was virtually wiped out in Texas until the 1920s. | Breeders persisted in only a few locations in Florida and Louisiana into the 1940s, and the species was virtually extirpated in Texas until the 1920s. |
| Tactolocation: a slightly open bill, swung from side to side, that snaps shut when it contacts prey | feeds by tactolocation: While walking, it swings its head and the slightly open “spoon” of its bill in the water from side to side in a semicircular motion. The bill snaps shut when it contacts prey |
| By touch, a method called tactolocation. While walking, it swings its head and the slightly open spoon of its bill through the water from side to side, and the bill snaps shut when it contacts prey, mainly fish and aquatic invertebrates. | feeds by tactolocation: While walking, it swings its head and the slightly open “spoon” of its bill in the water from side to side in a semicircular motion. The bill snaps shut when it contacts prey, mainly fish and aquatic invertebrates. |

## Ajaia ajaja (Roseate Spoonbill). The Online Guide to the Animals of Trinidad and Tobago, University of the West Indies.

https://sta.uwi.edu/fst/lifesciences/sites/default/files/lifesciences/images/Ajaia%20ajaja%20-%20Roseate%20Spoonbill.pdf

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Wading with its head low and its bill partly submerged and open, a roseate spoonbill swings its head from side to side in a semicircular sweep. | As it wades, it keeps its head low and its bill partially submerged and
open. It swings its head from side to side in a semicircular sweep |
| The bill snaps shut when prey is detected inside, helped by sensitive nerve endings that line it. | then snaps its
bill shut when prey is detected inside ... Detection is facilitated by
sensitive nerve endings which line the bill |
| It walks about continuously while feeding, not waiting for prey to approach as herons do. | While feeding they walk about continuously, not waiting for the prey to approach as done by herons |
| Shrimp, which it eats, feed on algae that produce carotenoid pigments, and two of those pigments, canthaxanthin and astaxanthin, are believed to be responsible for the spoonbill's pink. | A. ajaja consume
primarily carotenoid-rich foods such as a particular marine shrimp ... Carotenoids are a group of orange and red organic pigments ... Shrimp feed on algae which produce caroteniods and it is believed that two particular carotenoid molecules, namely canthaxanthin
and astaxanthin, are responsible for the pink colour observed in A. ajaja |
| On an adult, the bare skin varies from dull green to orange and black. | The head of the adults has no
feathers and the bare skin varies from dull-green, orange and black |
| A roseate spoonbill has no true vocal cords, though its windpipe is very long, with a coiled lower end shaped like a figure eight, similar to that of cranes. | their windpipe is very long with a coiled lower end resembling a figure ‘8’, similar
to that of cranes, they have no true vocal cords |
| It produces a harsh quack, and a clattering sound by clapping its mandibles together. | They produce a harsh ‘quack’ as well as a clattering sound from the clapping of
their mandibles or upper and lower part of the bill, together |
| During courtship, dancing displays have been observed. | During courtship, visual communication displays of dancing have been observed |
| Short distances are covered on foot, but it travels mainly by flight, in flocks strung out in long diagonal lines, legs and neck outstretched, alternating stiff, shallow wingbeats with glides. | Short distances are covered via walking but they locomote mainly by flight in flocks of long diagonal lines where consecutive
birds are just to one side of the preceding ... During flight, their legs and
necks are outstretched ... they alternate between stiff, shallow
wing-beats and glides |
| a bird that has been seen performing dancing displays in courtship | During courtship, visual communication displays of dancing have been observed (note: vibe.reason (#760)) |
| keeps its own percussion by clapping the two halves of its bill together into a clatter | a clattering sound from the clapping of
their mandibles or upper and lower part of the bill (note: vibe.reason (#760)) |

## Miño et al. (2011). Reconstructing genetic mating systems in the absence of parental information in colonially breeding waterbirds. BMC Evolutionary Biology.

https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-11-196

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A standard clutch is three eggs (range one to five) | Standard clutch size in this species is three eggs (range 1-5) |
| Some nest-mates are half-siblings or unrelated. | we obtained genetic evidence for the presence of unrelated nestlings inside Wood Stork (11.3% of the analyzed pairs) and Roseate Spoonbill nests (6.1% of the analyzed pairs), and the presence of half-siblings in Roseate Spoonbill broods (1.4% of the analyzed pairs) |
| In DNA tests of nestlings from wild Brazilian colonies | nestlings were sampled during the 2006, 2007 and 2008 breeding seasons in colonies located in the Amapa state (AP), Pantanal (PAN) region and Rio Grande do Sul state (RS), Brazil |
| 6.1% of the nestling pairs analyzed were unrelated birds sharing a nest, and 1.4% were half-siblings. | Roseate Spoonbill nests (6.1% of the analyzed pairs), and the presence of half-siblings in Roseate Spoonbill broods (1.4% of the analyzed pairs) |
| A DNA study of nestlings in wild Brazilian colonies found extra-pair paternity and eggs laid by other females in the nest were common, with a combined frequency of 7.5% | extra-pair paternity and conspecific brood parasitism were common in the latter two species, with a combined frequency of 7.5% and 11.3% in Roseate Spoonbill and Wood Stork, respectively |
| It looks that way. | CBP can explain the presence of unrelated nestmates and EPP can account for half-siblings in a brood |
| 7.5% of the nestling pairs analyzed | Roseate Spoonbill nests (6.1% of the analyzed pairs), and the presence of half-siblings in Roseate Spoonbill broods (1.4% of the analyzed pairs) (note: 6.1% unrelated + 1.4% half-siblings = the 7.5% combined frequency, so the unit is analyzed nestling pairs) |

## Platalea ajaja. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2025: e.T22697574A281037780.

https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2025-2.rlts.t22697574a281037780.en

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| the IUCN Red List rates it Least Concern | IUCN Red List category: Least Concern (LC). |