Groups sweep their spoonbills through shallow fresh or salt waters snapping up crustaceans and fish. We call this the bird’s “climatic range.”. It's easier than you think to make a difference. Spoonbills were intensely hunted for their beautiful feathers, used for ladies' hats, fans and screens. Although Roseate Spoonbills probably never were extremely abundant in Texas, they were virtually extirpated there between 1850 and 1919 because of encroaching civilization and exploitation by the millinery trade (Allen 1942). The first frame of the animation shows where the bird can find a suitable climate today (based on data from 2000). 1997. Texas A&M University Range: Breeding. The next three frames predict where this bird’s suitable climate may shift in the future—one frame each for 2020, 2050, and 2080. The nest base consisted of large dead twigs of groundsel tree (Baccharis halimifolia), border paloverde (Cercidium macrum), and Jerusalem-thorn (Parkinsonia aculeata) loosely fitted together to form a crude platform. A unique education agency, the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service teaches Texans wherever they live, extending research-based knowledge to benefit their families and communities. The flamboyant Roseate Spoonbill looks like it came straight out of a Dr. Seuss book with its bright pink feathers, red eye staring out from a partly bald head, and giant spoon-shaped bill. 1982). Explore more birds threatened by climate change around the country. https://doi.org/10.2173/ebirdst.2018, Certain products may be unavailable due to insufficient data. . 1982). The outlined areas represent approximate current range for each season. Texas Colonial Waterbird Society. The tarsus measures 9.7–12.4 cm (3.8–4.9 in), the culmen measures 14.5–18 cm (5.7–7.1 in) and the wing measures 32.3–37.5 cm (12.7–14.8 in) and thus the legs, bill, neck and spatulate billall appear elongated. of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences The bird life of Texas. Learn more. The TBBAP findings confirmed breeding (76% of total nest records) in all of Texas’s coastal counties and several inland counties. Audubon’s climate model predicts an unstable future for this species in North America, with significant loss of suitable climate space in both summer and winter, though with potential new areas opening up to the north. Version 96.4. Spoonbills never built nests on platforms remaining from the previous year. With rosy pink wings, an orange tail, and a naked, blotchy, scaly grayish-green head, the Roseate Spoonbill is at once beautiful and bizarre. The outline of the approximate current range for each season remains fixed in each frame, allowing you to compare how the range will expand, contract, or shift in the future. 1992), nest success probably is adequate and the population is in no immediate danger of serious decline. 1982). They are among the first to congregate at the colony sites, usually selecting nest sites in or atop low woody vegetation (rarely on the ground). Estimated for 2018. Fink, D., T. Auer, A. Johnston, M. Strimas-Mackey, O. Robinson, S. Ligocki, B. Petersen, C. Wood, I. Davies, B. Sullivan, M. Iliff, S. Kelling. The roseate spoonbill is 71–86 cm (28–34 in) long, with a 120–133 cm (47–52 in) wingspan and a body mass of 1.2–1.8 kg (2.6–4.0 lb). Dept. AgriLife Extension's online Bookstore offers educational information and resources related to our many areas of expertise and programming; from agriculture, horticulture, and natural resources to nutrition, wellness for families and youth, and much more. Thank you for pledging to help save the birds most at risk from global warming. Click for a hub of Extension resources related to the current COVID-19 situation. Range. 1982. } font-size: 40px; With the decline in plume hunting, spoonbill numbers quickly rebounded. The amount of overlap between the 2000 circle and the 2080 circle indicates how stable the range will be geographically. Sauer, J. R., J. E. Hines, G. Gough, I. Thomas, and B. G. Peterjohn. However, egg collectors took three clutches in 1921, 1923, and 1924 in Victoria and Refugio  counties (Welder Wildlife Foundation Egg Collection, pers. Texas Colonial Waterbird Society, Caesar Kleberg Wildl. An atlas and census of Texas waterbird colonies, 1973-1980. (1982) reported 150-200 nests on dredge-material islands in Nueces Bay at Corpus Christi during 1977-1980, and Oberholser (1974) referred to five large active colonies in the central coastal area in 1941 but did not mention nest estimates. Copyright © 2019 National Audubon Society, Inc. But we need everyone’s help–and soon. Nest height above ground averaged 24 cm (9 in) atop low vegetation and 71 cm (28 in) in small trees and shrubs. The darker the color, the more favorable the climate conditions are for survival. Platalea ajaja Gorgeous at a distance and bizarre up close is the Roseate Spoonbill. Egg laying usually begins during early to  mid-May. Res. Learn more. College Station TX 77843-2258 } The species is currently very widespread and numerous in the Neotropics, extending its range south to Argentina. Populations are declining in some core areas of this species’ summer range, and it remains to be seen how a shifting climate will affect this charismatic bird. University of Texas Press, Austin. Adults have a bare greenish head ("golden buff" when breeding ) and a white neck, back and breast (with a tuft of pink feathers in the center when breeding), and are oth… Young spoonbills fledge in early July at about six weeks of age and by early August adults and young begin to disperse from the nesting area. Roseate Spoonbill Platalea ajaja Range map: Breeding Data provided by eBird. Our mission is to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth’s biological diversity. Birds are not paired at this time and they loaf in large groups in the vicinity of the nesting area. When you sign the pledge, you will begin receiving communications from Audubon. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. /*-->*/. Keith A. Arnold Roseate Spoonbill Platalea ajaja. Completed nests averaged 57 cm (22 in) wide and 11 cm (4 in) deep. The Roseate Spoonbill. Data from marked eggs in 29 nests confirmed that laying occurred at the rate of one egg every other day; the time in the nest until hatching is 23 days for the first egg and 22 days for the others (White et al. e-mail: kaarnold@tamu.edu. 2020. eBird Status and Trends, Data Version: 2018; Released: 2020. Roseate Spoonbill Platalea ajaja Range map Data provided by eBird. The size of the circles roughly indicates the species’ range size in 2000 (left) and 2080 (right). The most inland confirmed TBBAP nest locations were at Addicks Reservoir, quads H-7 and H-8 in latilong 29095, and at Lake Texana, quad F-3 in latilong 29096. The activities of the birds on the nest eventually formed a wide, shallow depression in which the eggs were laid. [CDATA[/* >