Why are roseate spoonbills pink

Unlike most birds, roseate spoonbills are silent and often solitary when they feed. They swish their spoon-shaped bills back and forth in the water to find small invertebrates, fish and crustaceans. During breeding season, the male uses gifts of nesting material to attract the female. Once mated, the pair remains monogamous. Both male and female take turns sitting on the eggs and feeding the young. Spoonbills eat shrimp, shrimp eat algae, and the algae make their own red and yellow pigments, called carotenoids.

The parents take turns sitting on the nest during incubation about 22 days , and once the chicks hatch, they share the responsibility of feeding them. After about six weeks, the hatchlings develop wing feathers ready for test flights. They can live up to 15 years.

The birds also have bright red eyes and long pink legs. When they sleep, they stand on one leg with their heads tucked under a wing. They can grow to be two-and-a-half feet tall with a wingspan of up to five feet.

Like ibis and storks, they fly with their necks outstretched. When they get old, they start to bald, losing the feathers on top of their heads. The rose hues are enhanced as they mature. Oh, what tangled webs they weave—huge, remarkably intricate nets that can be as large as six feet across. Strong enough to catch an unwary bird or bat, they can also bring a shriek to the unsuspecting passerby who gets caught in the sticky silk.

Males and females pair off for the breeding season and build a nest together. They build large nests of sticks lined with grass and leaves. The nests are built in trees. The female spoonbill lays two to four eggs. Both the female and the male incubate the eggs. The chicks hatch in about three weeks and fledge in around 35 to 42 days. Both the male and female feed the chicks until they are about eight weeks old.

Young roseate spoonbills have white feathers with a slight pink tinge on the wings. They don't reach maturity until they are three years old. Behavior Roseate spoonbills are very social. They live in large colonies with other spoonbills, ibises, storks, herons, egrets and cormorants.

Roseate spoonbills fly in flocks in long diagonal lines with their legs and neck stretched out.