Tag Archives: roseate spoonbill

Birding Trips in SC, Biridng Trips and Tours in SC

A Roseate Spoonbill encounter at Huntington Beach SP

March 10, 2024 admin

By Sally Siko

One of the most unique looking birds we’ve got flying around the Carolinas is the Roseate Spoonbill.  With that long flat bill it’s easy to see how these beauties earned their name. I spotted this one last weekend while birding at the Huntington Beach State Park in Murrells Inlet, SC.

Having a “built-in” spoon on its beak can be a big help at mealtime. Spoonbills take advantage of this adaptation with a special feeding style known as “head-swinging.”  They’ll plunge their bill nearly vertically under water and swing it side to side in wide arcs. In this way, they snag a host of small animals from the lake bottom.  Their diet is made up of small fish, crustaceans (especially shrimp and crayfish), insects, molluscs (such as slugs and snails), and other small aquatic animals.

Roseate Spoonbills are an occasional, transient visitor to North Carolina during the late summer along our southeastern coast. If you’d like to have an opportunity to see them sooner rather than later, your best bet is to take a short trip down to coastal South Carolina where they are found throughout the year.

By the way, I’ve added 80 new birding tour dates to my 2024 trip schedule so if you’d like to join me out there in South Carolina to see these beautiful birds for yourself, check the link below for details & booking info!
  Photos by @sally_siko of @bestlife_birding on my mighty mirrorless monster, the @canonusa #R5

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina, The Adventures of your bird watching Admin

Roseate Spoonbills at Huntington Beach State Park

October 28, 2021 admin

One of the most unique looking birds we’ve got flying around the Carolinas is the Roseate Spoonbill.
With that long flat bill it’s easy to see how these beauties earned their name.
I spotted this one a few weeks ago while birding at the Huntington Beach State Park in Murrells Inlet, SC.

Having a “built-in” spoon on its beak can be a big help at mealtime. Spoonbills take advantage of this adaptation with a special feeding style known as “head-swinging.”
They’ll plunge their bill nearly vertically under water and swing it side to side in wide arcs. In this way, they snag a host of small animals from the lake bottom.
Their diet is made up of small fish, crustaceans (especially shrimp and crayfish), insects, molluscs (such as slugs and snails), and other small aquatic animals.

Roseate Spoonbills are an occasional, transient visitor to NC during the late summer along our southeastern coast. If you’d like to have a better opportunity to see them, your best bet is to take a short trip down to coastal South Carolina where they are found throughout summer and autumn. Some smaller flocks even spend the winter there so it might be worth looking for them in December too.

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the mighty @canonusa #R5

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina, Birdwatching News

Rare Bird Alert North Carolina: Roseate Spoonbills spotted in Raleigh at Lake Lynn

July 5, 2021 admin

By: Sally Siko- Admin Birdwatching NC

Yesterday I received a rare bird notification from @eBird that a pair of Roseate Spoonbills had been spotted at Lake Lynn in Raleigh NC so I decided to go see if I could get a look at them with my friend Corie @calatta
We met up an hour later in the southern parking lot and walked to the north end of the lake where we were happy to find these beautiful birds hunting for a snack in the shallows with a Little Blue Heron
Nice to get a win so easily!

Roseate Spoonbills are normally found in southern Florida and along the coast of Texas during the summer which is why it was so unusual to find these two at Lake Lynn.
That being said, sightings of Spoonbills here in North Carolina have been on the increase in recent years though most of those have occurred in our southern coastal regions.

These lovely birds are best spotted in marshy areas foraging for a meal in the water or mudflats.
Sweeping their namesake spoon-shaped bill side to side in the shallow water, the Spoonbills mouth is partially open as their bill probes into the mud. When they stir up a fish or invertebrate, they’ll clamp that bill shut to capture their prey.
Their diet mainly consists of minnows, but they’ll also eat shrimp, crayfish, crabs, aquatic insects, mollusks, and slugs. Spoonbills will also snack on plants including the roots and stems of sedges.

I have no idea how long these two will stick around the Triangle for so if you can get out within the next day or two you might be able to find them as well.
For reference, I’ve included a Google Map pin drop showing the exact location of these birds at the north end of Lake Lynn (as of yesterday & today) to the end of this post.
Hope you are able to see them too!
Happy birding!
-Sally

Photos & Video by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the full frame beast of an SLR, the mighty @canonusa
#5Ds