{"id":34714,"date":"2016-01-05T05:47:13","date_gmt":"2016-01-05T12:47:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=34714"},"modified":"2025-05-10T19:08:59","modified_gmt":"2025-05-11T00:08:59","slug":"a-roseate-spoonbill-in-a-lagoon-with-a-young-mangrove","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/01\/05\/a-roseate-spoonbill-in-a-lagoon-with-a-young-mangrove\/","title":{"rendered":"Roseate Spoonbill In A Lagoon With A Young Mangrove"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-144289 size-full\" title=\"Roseate Spoonbill in a lagoon with a young Mangrove in Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/roseate-spoonbill-lagoon-mia-mcpherson-7336.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/roseate-spoonbill-lagoon-mia-mcpherson-7336.jpg\" alt=\"Roseate Spoonbill in a lagoon with a young mangrove in Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20607%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/roseate-spoonbill-lagoon-mia-mcpherson-7336-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/roseate-spoonbill-lagoon-mia-mcpherson-7336-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/roseate-spoonbill-lagoon-mia-mcpherson-7336-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/roseate-spoonbill-lagoon-mia-mcpherson-7336-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/roseate-spoonbill-lagoon-mia-mcpherson-7336-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/roseate-spoonbill-lagoon-mia-mcpherson-7336.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Roseate Spoonbill in a lagoon with a young mangrove &#8211; Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 250, Nikkor 80-400mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>There are days in Utah when the gray clouds hanging overhead for days on end get to me because I&#8217;d rather be out photographing birds and animals with decent light so I dig into my archives of the birds I photographed in Florida and that brightens my morning right up regardless of what it looks like outside my window.<\/p>\n<p>Roseate Spoonbills were some of the brightest colored birds I photographed in Florida especially when they were in breeding plumage. Of the world\u2019s six species of Spoonbills the only ones that are pink are are the roseate spoonbills and it also the only spoonbill native to North America.<\/p>\n<p>I can recall vividly the morning I photographed this Roseate Spoonbill in a lagoon with a young mangrove by its legs at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pinellascounty.org\/park\/05_ft_desoto.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Fort De Soto County Park<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>I had been the only photographer at the beach and had been sitting on my knees in the warm lagoon waiting patiently for birds to get closer to me on their own.<\/p>\n<p>The Roseate Spoonbills came closer and closer to me and I was able to take a nice series of this spoonbill and several others before two very noisy photographers came over the dunes and scared them off by talking loudly and banging their tripods around.<\/p>\n<p>I was very glad they came after I had spent time alone with the spoonbills.<\/p>\n<p>But life <em>is<\/em> good. Always good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/roseate-spoonbill-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Roseate Spoonbill photos plus facts and information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I can recall vividly the morning I photographed this Roseate Spoonbill in a lagoon with a young mangrove by its legs at Fort De Soto County Park. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":144289,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,25,704,2000,177],"tags":[4004,4053,5132,3997,3421,4258,4266,1481,4810,4811,4140,313,3996],"class_list":["post-34714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-pinellas-county-florida","category-roseate-spoonbills","tag-adult","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-coastal","tag-lagoon","tag-mangrove","tag-mangroves","tag-platalea-ajaja","tag-roseate-spoonbill","tag-spoonbill","tag-spoonbills","tag-tidal-lagoon","tag-wading-birds","tag-water"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/roseate-spoonbill-lagoon-mia-mcpherson-7336.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-91U","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":43255,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/11\/25\/juvenile-roseate-spoonbill-on-floridas-west-coast\/","url_meta":{"origin":34714,"position":0},"title":"Juvenile Roseate Spoonbill on Florida&#8217;s West Coast","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 25, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I photographed this juvenile Roseate Spoonbill in May of 2008 from inside a lagoon at Fort De Soto's north while the immature spoonbill and a few adults preened and rested on the shoreline.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile Roseate Spoonbill at the edge of a lagoon, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/roseate-spoonbill-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-7230.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/roseate-spoonbill-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-7230.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/roseate-spoonbill-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-7230.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/roseate-spoonbill-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-7230.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10181,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/11\/07\/adult-roseate-spoonbill-on-the-gulf-coast\/","url_meta":{"origin":34714,"position":1},"title":"Adult Roseate Spoonbill on the Gulf Coast","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 7, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Of the six species of spoonbills only the Roseate Spoonbill is found in North America and it is the only Spoonbill that is so vividly colored.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Roseate Spoonbill at the north beach lagoon, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/roseate-spoonbill-adult-mia-mcpherson-5335.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/roseate-spoonbill-adult-mia-mcpherson-5335.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/roseate-spoonbill-adult-mia-mcpherson-5335.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/roseate-spoonbill-adult-mia-mcpherson-5335.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6867,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/12\/22\/roseate-spoonbill-in-evening-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":34714,"position":2},"title":"Roseate Spoonbill In Evening Light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 22, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Evening can have marvelous light too though as shown in the Roseate Spoonbill image above that I photographed in Florida as it hunted for prey in a tidal lagoon.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Roseate Spoonbill in evening light, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/roseate-spoonbill-mia-mcpherson-6232.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/roseate-spoonbill-mia-mcpherson-6232.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/roseate-spoonbill-mia-mcpherson-6232.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14642,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/03\/29\/sunset-and-a-roseate-spoonbill\/","url_meta":{"origin":34714,"position":3},"title":"Sunset and a Roseate Spoonbill","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 29, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The tide was rushing out of the tidal lagoon very quickly when I photographed this Roseate Spoonbill at the \"Magic Hour\" and the light on the Spoonbill and the Spartina behind it enchanted me.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sunset and a Roseate Spoonbill, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/roseate-spoonbill-sunset-6402.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/roseate-spoonbill-sunset-6402.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/roseate-spoonbill-sunset-6402.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7527,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/02\/15\/roseate-spoonbill-and-wood-stork-size-comparison\/","url_meta":{"origin":34714,"position":4},"title":"Roseate Spoonbill and Wood Stork Size Comparison","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"This photo shows a Roseate Spoonbill and Wood Stork on the shoreline of a tidal lagoon at Fort De Soto County Park in Florida and it shows how the Wood Stork can dwarf the Roseate Spoonbill in height.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Wood Stork walking near a lagoon, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/wood-stork-walking-mia-mcpherson-8623.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/wood-stork-walking-mia-mcpherson-8623.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/wood-stork-walking-mia-mcpherson-8623.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/wood-stork-walking-mia-mcpherson-8623.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":24063,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/05\/18\/roseate-sunset\/","url_meta":{"origin":34714,"position":5},"title":"Roseate Sunset","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I have always loved the pinks of the Roseate Spoonbills and the evening sun just made the colors even more delightful looking.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Roseate Sunset, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/roseate-spoonbill-sunset-mia-mcpherson-6528.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}