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Platalea ajaja
platalea ajaja
Platalea ajaja (Roseate Spoonbill)

The Roseate Spoonbill is a gregarious wading bird belonging to the ibis and spoonbill family Threskiornithidae. This species is noted for its vibrant pink plumage, which can range from pale pink to a vivid magenta. This variation in color intensity depends on the bird's age, breeding status, and geographical location. Adult Roseate Spoonbills are characterized by a distinctive bare greenish head and a white neck, back, and breast, with a central tuft of pink feathers during the breeding season​​. Primarily found in the Americas, Roseate Spoonbills are resident breeders in both South and North America. Their range extends from the southeastern United States through Central and South America, mostly to the east of the Andes. Within the United States, they are found along the Gulf Coast and as far north as South Carolina's Myrtle Beach. These birds inhabit a variety of wetland habitats, including coastal marshes, bays, lagoons, mangroves, and mudflats, often nesting and roosting in trees and shrubs near water bodies​​. Roseate Spoonbills are known for their unique foraging behavior, which involves sweeping their spoon-shaped bill side to side as they walk through shallow waters. This bill shape allows them to sift through mud, feeling for prey with sensitive nerve endings. Their diet primarily consists of crustaceans, aquatic insects, frogs, newts, and very small fish​​​​. Roseate Spoonbills are serially monogamous, staying with one partner for a breeding season. They build large cup-shaped nests in trees or shrubs, typically in mangroves, and lay 2 to 5 eggs. Both parents share the duty of incubating the eggs for about 22-23 days. The chicks are born altricial, meaning they are naked, helpless, and blind, and begin to fly around 7-8 weeks of age​​. The Roseate Spoonbill's population has stabilized. The current total breeding population size is estimated at over 100,000 individuals, and the species is classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List​​​​. However, in the United States, where it is less common, it is listed as a species of concern in Florida and Louisiana. The Roseate Spoonbill's presence in North America varies, with about 11,000 adults estimated in this region.

Couple of Platalea ajaja

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