The Story
I photographed this Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja) on the Orteguaza River at Puerto Arango, near Florencia, Caquetá, Colombia, in February 2020. It breeds in both South and North America. Its pink color comes from its diet, through the pigment canthaxanthin, as in the American Flamingo. It is 71 to 86 centimeters long. It feeds in shallow water by sweeping its bill from side to side as it walks, taking crustaceans, insects, mollusks, frogs and small fish. It nests in shrubs or trees, often mangroves. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/1000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800, −2 EV. The Ferry Marcopolo leaves from Puerto Arango, about 15 kilometers from Florencia, on a two-hour trip on the Orteguaza River, passing the mouth of the Hacha River and stopping at a sandbar for lunch.
©2022 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja) belongs to the family Threskiornithidae (Ibises and Spoonbills) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2025), with the population trend listed as stable. Source: IUCN Red List