21 The spoonbill comes into its own 



roseate spoonbill requires three years to reach mature breed- 

 ing age and that the normal mortality during the first year is 

 probably in excess of 50 per cent, and perhaps as much as 70 per 

 cent. But we had a few ideas and a good deal of hope, and we 

 meant to keep at it. Today, twenty-one years after we first be- 

 gan our protection program in Florida Bay, roseate spoonbills nest 

 on seven or eight different keys and their numbers have climbed 

 to 150 or more nesting pairs which rear more than 300 young 

 every winter. The improvement has been slow and they are by 

 no means out of the woods, but if you had had a part in nursing 

 them along through those early years, as I did, you would be 

 pretty happy about it. 



The roseate spoonbill is no ordinary bird. It is large, with a 

 wingspread of over four feet, but it is the color of the plumage that 

 is the outstanding characteristic. It is unbelievable! And the shape 

 of the bill elongated, flattened toward the tip, and spoon-shaped. 

 There is nothing else quite like it. At the start of the breeding 

 season a fully grown adult is a vision of pinks, carmines, orange- 

 buffs, saffron yellows, lake reds, and subdued greens. The sexes 

 are plumaged alike. The head is bare of feathers and the skin is a 

 soft apple green, which changes to a glowing golden buff at the 

 height of the nuptial period, probably at the time of pairing. 

 Against this setting the cherry-red eyes are like jewels. 



The longish but sturdy neck is white and the over-all body 

 plumage and wings are a rich pink, with the elongated feathers 

 of the upper and lower tail coverts an intense carmine. When 

 the wings are folded there is a splash of deep carmine in a hori- 

 zontal line from shoulder to back the lesser wing coverts. In the 

 middle of the breast there is a patch of stiff, curly feathers that are 

 also carmine in color, and as if this wasn't enough, this is sur- 

 rounded by suffusions of pink and orange-buff, with splotches of 

 soft saffron yellow toward the shoulders. The short tail, beneath 

 its brilliant coverts, is a startling orange-buff. The legs, which are 

 long as in all wading birds, are thicker than those of a heron and 

 are a dark lake red. 



The day that Nature chose the roseate spoonbill's colors must 

 have been a very special one. There are five other species of spoon- 



