Rosie

“Rosie” is a roseate spoonbill, which I photographed on the Texas Gulf Coast. This is one of my favorite shorebirds. They combine some of the most beautiful and the most unlovely features, resulting in a bird that might appear in a Dr. Seuss book. The bright red, pink, and orange of their feathers resembles an elegant flamingo, but their unique spoon-shaped bill is an unattractive wrinkly gray. This bill is used to swing back and forth in shallow water to capture small prey, while they slowly walk on their large wrinkly black feet. While we admire their beautiful feathers, we also get to chuckle at their improbable combination of unusual features.