Due to the tremendous response from my last story about my Yellow-Billed Loon experience, I decided to post my Roseate Spoonbill experience to the list. I know many people from many of the surrounding states came to see this rarity. After this story, I will post my Western Reef Heron experience. The spoonbill was a 2nd New Jersey State Record. Here it goes:
When you think pink, what do you imagine? Do you see a little pig running around a farm, a freshly cut rose from your parent’s garden, your friend’s recently painted fingernails, or a Roseate Spoonbill? Chances are it is one of these things. And if you’re a birder, it’s the latter. Well, not too long ago, I was not only thinking pink but also looking at pink!
It was July 12 (Thursday), just like any other summer day. The hummingbirds were going in and out of my mom’s flowers, the just mowed lawn by my dad was getting searched for worms by many robins, the sun was shining ever so bright, and like always, I was checking the latest bird posts.
Let me go back a bit. I was especially excited for the upcoming weekend because my parents and I were going to visit my brother, Tim, at college. He attends college in Philadelphia. That meant that we might be able to go birding before we saw him (I usually beg my parents to go birding whenever we plan on visiting him). There are many great places to bird around Philadelphia. There’s John Heinz at Tinicum Refuge, Rittenhouse Square, the Schuylkill River, and Fairmount Park. About an hour past Philadelphia, there is Edwin B. Forsythe Wildlife Refuge (A.K.A. Brigantine for all you birders). I had only been there once, but that one and only time yielded five life birds for my parents and I. We had only been there about two hours, but those two hours were fantastic. Seeing Atlantic City in the background while looking at an osprey family on a platform is magical.
Back to July 12, I was checking the latest bird posts for Pennsylvania and New Jersey. I knew if there were any good birds in the Philadelphia area, we might have an opportunity to go and see them. As I was reading the posts for New Jersey, I noticed ROSEATE SPOONBILL in big letters. I quickly read the post and noticed that a Roseate Spoonbill was seen that morning at Brigantine. I couldn’t believe it! It was only New Jersey’s second state record for this tropical bird. I quickly ran downstairs and told my mom. She couldn’t believe it (the last time we were at the Hershey Park Zoo, she fell in love with these birds). I then called my dad at work and told him the fantastic news. I had called the park office and talked to the ranger on duty for a couple of minutes. He explained to me that the spoonbill might not stick around and if it does, it will be very hard to locate and see.
When we were all eating supper that night, I brought up the question of going there on Saturday. My parents both quickly agreed that we would be able to visit Brigantine. Wow! I was so excited! Seeing another super rarity after just seeing one two months before (Yellow-Billed Loon)! That night I was anxiously reading every post about the spoonbill. All of the reports basically stated that without a scope (I currently do not have one), the spoonbill will look like a dot of pink very far away. With a scope, it will be very difficult to view, too. The closest birders had seen the spoonbill was at a distance of about one thousand yards. I was very sad about seeing it so far away, yet very excited about seeing the bird. After reading the latest posts, I went to bed that night thinking about the spoonbill.
The next day (Friday) I awoke and checked the posts again. They all stated the same information. You can be waiting there for hours and you will see it move its body for a second and that’s all. People that stayed there all day Thursday, got brief five second glimpses of the bird that came very rarely throughout the day. As Friday drew to a close, I anxiously awaited Saturday. Once again, before I went to bed, I checked the posts. They still were saying the same things. Someone came to the consensus that the bird was seen for a total of two minutes throughout the day that Friday. After reading that, I plugged in my camera chargers and went to sleep.
When I awoke just three hours later (I awakened at two a.m.) I showered and got ready for the day ahead of me. When my parents and I were all set to go, we left with the same mindset, Roseate Spoonbill here we come!
We arrived at Brigantine around 6:30 a.m. We all used the restrooms and then started our “hunt for the Roseate Spoonbill”. We situated ourselves where the spoonbill was seen for the past two days on Gull Pond Road. We quickly climbed to the top of an observation tower (the sun was just rising), and scanned the overview for the spoonbill. While looking through our binoculars, we saw yellow warblers, black-crowned night herons, great egrets, gull-billed terns, a least bittern, and a little blue heron, but no spoonbill. It was about 6:50 a.m. now and it seemed like we had been on the tower for an hour. Other birders were on the tower as well, and all but two left after having no luck seeing the spoonbill. At about seven a.m., we were talking to the other birders about the spoonbill. The one birder said that the earliest that people saw the spoonbill was at 9:30 a.m. for the past two days. We then saw some movement in the opposite direction of the
“spoonbill spot” and we quickly positioned our binoculars and scopes in that direction. It was only a juvenile black-crowned night heron. The other birders and my parents continued to look in that direction for other interesting birds, while I decided to turn around and look in the direction of the spoonbill spot. I saw nothing as I scanned the water, but then I looked up. The roseate spoonbill was flying right towards us! I almost fainted. I quickly told everyone and we all got amazing views of the spoonbill. Because we were on the high tower, it seemed as if we could touch it with our outstretched arms. It flew graciously, flapping its pink wings spanning almost five feet. Everyone could see its pinkish beak shaped like a spoon. It gently swooped slightly downward and awkwardly tried to land in a tree. It was unsuccessful and then flew off and wasn’t seen again that day.
I turned my camera on and was able to take four photos of it (I probably could have taken one or two more, but as soon as I turned my camera on, it froze do to the coldness of the winds that morning). The bright pink coloring that was enhanced by the rising New Jersey sun, its naked face, “spoonbill”, and characteristic flight were jaw dropping. The bird was stunning.
It was so close to us, that it seemed possible to reach out and touch it. It was about fifty yards away from us flying eye-level with the tower we were standing on. I couldn’t believe it. We got to see a Roseate Spoonbill in the wild. I couldn’t stop looking at the amazing photos I was able to get of it. One actually turned out to be a very embarrassing photo of the spoonbill, because it was pooping in flight. But all I cared about was that my parents and I saw a Roseate Spoonbill!
I was very happy that we were able to get to see the spoonbill and to top that off, get amazing photos of it! My father also videotaped the spoonbill for a couple of seconds. After seeing the spoonbill, we did the eight mile driving loop around the refuge. We saw osprey, shorebirds, and terns. After completing the drive, we checked in with the hundred or so people waiting to see the spoonbill. It hadn’t been seen since we saw it with the two other birders at seven o’clock that morning (it was now around eleven o‘clock). I couldn’t believe it!
We then traveled to my brother’s dorm and told him the great news! After that, we talked and chatted with him for a while and then decided to go and get Philadelphia’s famous cheese steaks. After finishing up our supper, we headed back home. Upon arriving home, I put my photos on the web and checked to see if the spoonbill was seen again. It was not seen for the whole rest of the day. There was one possible sighting but it was after the sun had set, and was not confirmed. The spoonbill was not seen for a day or two but then showed up again. Many people after that day got to see this amazing bird.
My story of our close encounter with the Roseate Spoonbill will forever be etched in my memory!
P.S. At the publishing of this story, the Roseate Spoonbill was being seen up to at least October 7, 2007.
My photo of the Roseate Spoonbill pooping can be seen at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisbohinski/820244969/
Thanks so much! You're the best!
Christopher James Bohinski
Wilkes-Barre, PA
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