Roseate Spoonbill

• GeneralIts pink comes from the crustaceans it strains out, sweeping its bill through the water.
• fisiologíaIts distinctive pink, much like a flamingo's, comes from carotenoid pigments in the crustaceans it eats.
• It is pink because of what it eats: the carotenoids in the crustaceans it feeds on are laid down in the plumage, just as in flamingos, and a poorly fed bird in captivity loses the colour.
• It almost vanished from the United States because of the feather trade: its pink wings were sold for fans and hats, and by the 1930s fewer than thirty pairs were left in Florida.
• It fishes blind: it sweeps the murky water with its bill half open and snaps it shut within milliseconds on feeling contact, without needing to see the prey.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)

Habitat and environment

Mangroves, brackish marshes, coastal lagoons and wetlands of tropical and subtropical America

Sexual maturity

3 years

Gestation / incubation

23 days

Litter / clutch size

3

Sources consulted: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roseate_spoonbill