The Spoonbill

          Everyone likes birds. What wild creature is more accessible to our eyes and ears,
          as close to us and everyone in the world, as universal as a bird?
                                                                                                        ~ David Attenborough

Our parents taught us to love nature.

We all spend time in the outdoors and can identify plants, wildflowers, animals and birds (insects, snakes, fish...). Some of us are better than others. I rely on help (Internet, books, naturalist friends and relatives) much of the time, but there are some things  - "I know when I see 'em."

Yesterday I drove from our cabin to the river - less than a quarter mile - past the pond at the campgrounds (where we have stayed every year - but one - for 53 years). There are always ducks at the pond. Sometimes they are ugly ducks. Sometimes they are your average duck. Right now there appear to be two regular domesticated ducks and three mallards.

I was almost beyond the pond when I spied a long legged white-ish bird at the water's edge.  I slowed and turned my head to get a better look and slammed on the brakes. The spoon-shaped bill and pale pink (not white after all) plumage said, roseate spoonbill.* [After looking at photos and maps,** I have to guess it is an immature bird that somehow got lost.]

Roseate spoonbills are coastal birds. They are pretty much permanent residents on the coast. I don't think they travel far, but one website showed they can be "vagrants."***

This "vagrant" bird didn't seem to be concerned with the resident ducks or the people fishing or attempting to take photos. It hung around, feeding at the water's edge, for a few hours. It traveled all around the eastern half of the pond.

So, yes, I took photos. I used up the battery in one camera and grabbed a phone for more photos (Sorry, some are better than others).

Here you go (in the event you are a skeptic). My proof:

The pond. It is significantly lower than it was in May (even before the Memorial Day weekend floods it had overflowed the normal banks. Now it is well below what we consider "normal.").

The spoonbill was near the northeastern corner. Even at a distance there was no mistaking the beak.

It moved south - and under the trees.

I was hugging the cypress tree so I could get close without frightening it away.

It headed towards the middle of the south side of the pond. The couple in the upper left corner is from the coast. They took photos and we talked about how odd it was to see one here.

Lovely bird.

Eating its way back towards the trees at the eastern side of the pond.

Maybe the sun was too much.

Back under the trees.

I should note that DH wandered into the cabin saying, "There is a long legged bird, decidedly not a duck, at the pond."

"Spoonbill," I said as I grabbed his phone and headed out for more photos.

NOTES:

* I know I have told this story before. I will probably tell it again. It is a good story. My daddy was the district attorney in a 5 county district in south Texas. Every now and again he would see something going to or coming from one of those distant courthouses (we lived in one county seat). He would load us up and take us to look. On one occasion he took us out towards the coast (our town was 20 miles from the coast while one county seat was ON the water). There in the shallow water was a quilt of pink. And as the sun was setting this massive flock of roseate spoonbills took flight. It was as if the sunset itself was flying up. I have never seen anything quite like it.

So, I can recognize a spoonbill when I see one.

Recently my sister and I saw a pair of them sieving breakfast at the coast (see post By the bay, July 31, 2015).

** http://txtbba.tamu.edu/species-accounts/roseate-spoonbill/

*** http://sdakotabirds.com/species/roseate_spoonbill_info.htm