Photo of a pair Roseate Spoonbill made by Greg Peterson on
Aruba, 2009. And a picture by Bas Spek of five! spoonbills near
Warappakreek in Suriname in January 2010.
The roseate spoonbill is a large bird, often seen in groups,
walking slowly in shallow water. They move their bill sideways to
find food (small animals). Even in murky waters, like those along
the Surinamese coast, they can find them by touch. You can see
this characteristic movement in a small piece of video (about 0,5 MB mpg made in the
zoo). They breed in trees. In Suriname their numbers have
diminished. I found few observations after 1970 and some hunters
say their numbers did decrease sharply. They are fully protected
by law in Suriname, but they are clearly hunted upon. The last
years the number of observations increases again.
Each small square indicates the observation of at least one (group) of these birds, the medium ones at least 4 observations on different days and the largest ones 10 or more. The color of each square indicates: blue for coastal area, yellow for savanna and red for rainforest.
| Distribution in Suriname (explanation) | |
| Coastal area |  |
| Savanna |  |
| Forests | |
| Mountain forests | |
| Sipalawini savanna | |
Names in: