In the foregoing page we were introduced to the large and beautiful birds known as spoonbills. Now let's take a look at the species that makes its home in the United States and, because of its coloring, is known as the roseate. This one is considered by many to be the prettiest of all varieties. They are found mostly along the Gulf of Mexico, from Florida to Texas.
The main body of the roseate, including the underside of its wings, is a deep pink, but the tops of the wings are pink only where connected to its back. Short tail feathers are usually orange; its legs and feet are deep pink. The only white on the roseate is on its neck and breast and the lower top-sides of the wings. However, an absolute rule on their coloring cannot be made because several variations show up. But these are always in beautiful harmony, presenting a lovely display the Creator has given us to enjoy.
The reason for so much pink on the roseate, as well as on its relative, the flamingo, is that the diet of both birds includes large quantities of shrimp from the ocean shorelines. The depth of the color depends on how much shrimp they eat.
Roseates most frequently make their nests of sticks in bushes along the water's edge, but sometimes they will colonize with others on raised platforms. After nest building is completed, both parents take turns incubating four or five eggs until they hatch in three or four weeks. The parents also take turns guarding and feeding the chicks.
Their way of feeding is to insert their heads into the spoon-like bill and throat of a parent, which then produces already digested food for them. When little ones are waiting for food, they line up on the side of the nest, whistling and trilling noisily. When a parent arrives, the first one getting to its bill doesn't want to leave, so the parent eventually shakes it loose so another one can have a turn.
How do you suppose these birds all learned the same way of life? Well, they didn't need to learn, because the Creator gave these instincts to the very first ones He created, and they have been passed on to each generation ever since.
And when we think of His wondrous ways in creation, how it would please Him to hear each of us repeat and really mean the words of the Apostle Paul who wrote: "For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen" (Rom. 11:3636For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. (Romans 11:36)).