In our last issue we were introduced to the large and beautiful birds known as spoonbills. Now let’s take a look at the species that lives 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. It is found mostly along the Gulf of Mexico, from Florida to Texas, and on islands in the Gulf of Mexico.
The main body of the roseate, including the underside of its wings, is a rosy pink, but the tops of the wings are pink only where connected to its back. Short tail feathers are usually orange, and its legs and feet are rosy 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 just as beautiful, 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 shrubs along the water’s edge, but sometimes they will colonize with others on raised stick platforms. After nest building is completed, both parents take turns incubating five to seven eggs until they hatch in three or four weeks. The parents also take turns guarding and feeding them.
The young feed by inserting their heads into the spoon-like bill and throat of a parent who then produces already digested food for them. When the young 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 the parent’s 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? The answer is they didn’t need to learn, because our Creator God 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 wonderful ways in creation, how it would please Him to hear each of us repeat and really mean the words that the Apostle Paul wrote: “Of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen” (Romans 11:3636For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. (Romans 11:36)).
ML-04/06/2014