Just like flamingos, this species gets its pink color from the shrimp and small invertebrates that it eats. While all the other species have white plumage, Roseate Spoonbills are brilliant shades of pink. A major period of decline for the spoonbill occurred in the early 1800s when the wings of this beautiful creature were made into fans, a "regular … Roseate Spoonbills have been my been my favorite bird since I was 2. The horny bill is equipped with sensitive touch receptors that detect vibrations given off by prey. Roseate Spoonbill foraging for food. I saw one in the Everglades and in the Keys. Royal Spoonbill – This species lives in Australia, New Zealand, and some of the surrounding islands. Roseate Spoonbill – The Roseate Spoonbill is the oddball in this bird family. Nesting Roseate Spoonbill – High Island, Texas – Personal Photo GKennedy. NPS photo. Gorgeous at a distance and bizarre up close is the Roseate Spoonbill. Roseate spoonbills feed at day or night. The shape of their bills gives us a clue about how they feed. The roseate spoonbill lives in mangrove swamps, tidal ponds, saltwater lagoons and other areas with brackish water. It's colors is what makes it the best spoonbill ever. Also, the roseate spoonbill has mysteriously traveled up north, like Minnesota and New Jersey. Any plant material they eat is probably accidental. It has touch receptors in its bill that help it feel its prey. Spoonbills are easily identified not only by their bright pink and white colors but by their distinctive bill shape. The Roseate Spoonbill sweeps this distinctively shaped bill from side to side close to the bottom of the water, creating little whirlpools of water that trap prey inside them, enabling the Roseate Spoonbill to feed. A spoonbill feeds more by touch than by sight - - a handy adaptation for an animal that often feeds in water that's muddy or clogged with dense vegetation. Diet The roseate spoonbill spends a lot of its time in shallow water feeding. Locally common in coastal Florida, Texas, and southwest Louisiana, they are usually in small flocks, often associating with other waders. Touchy-Feely. The Roseate Spoonbill is found along the south Florida coast from the Florida Keys north to Tampa, with some populations in northeastern Florida and the eastern coast of Texas down to Mexico. The spoonbills have a global distribution, being found on every continent except Antarctica. Spoonbills are a genus, Platalea, of large, long-legged wading birds. It sweeps its open bill from side to side in the water to sift up food like small fish, shrimp, mollusks, snails and insects. Spoonbills feed in shallow waters, walking forward slowly while they swing their heads from side to side, sifting the muck with their wide flat bills. I adore this bird because of it remarkable pink feathers and AMAZING bill. Roseate spoonbill: Scientific classification; Kingdom: Animalia: Phylum: Chordata: Class: Aves: Order: Pelecaniformes: Family: Threskiornithidae: Subfamily: Plataleinae: Genus: Platalea Linnaeus, 1758: Species See text.