I encountered a Roseate Spoonbill in my backyard on Thursday. Working from home has its perks!

[Pacifist Patriot]

I was fortunate to be able to stalk this fellow with my telephoto lens during my lunch hour.

[kcoates]

1. Spoonbills

Beautiful!

[flamin lib]

2. Spectacular. Love the in flight pics, particularly the last two with the mirror

reflections.

Oh, and I want a back yard like yours . . .

[I_UndergroundPanther]

3. Spoon bills

Beaks are really cool looking. Have always been fascinated with birds that are colorful and unique your spoonbill is both. Thank you.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

4. Beautiful! Beautiful backyard, too!

[Pacifist Patriot]

21. Thank you. Everyone would be so disappointed if I showed the full view from my back patio.

It's actually a retention pond surrounded by suburban houses with .20 acre lots. LOL!

[BlancheSplanchnik]

32. Wow! Well you did a great job photographing!

I’m glad the Spoonbill doesn’t mind the suburbs.

[Evolve Dammit]

5. Beautiful! FL?

[Pacifist Patriot]

15. Yep. Brevard County.

[Evolve Dammit]

50. miss Ding Darling refuge and the great State Parks in FL. FL must amazing before rampant development

[Frustratedlady]

6. The photos are all good, but that last one if incredible.

You should frame it.

[Pacifist Patriot]

17. Definitely considering it. I have some still life photos I took back in 2005...

hanging in my breakfast nook (turned office/sewing room). Tempted to replace them with this.

[Ligyron]

23. Yeah, and the 3rd one too.

That was a good catch.

[Karadeniz]

49. I second that! Well done!

[TNNurse]

7. I am jealous beyond words.

[CrispyQ]

8. Fabulous shots!

Beautiful bird!

[Lonestarblue]

9. Beautiful photos--and gorgeous backyard!

[Pacifist Patriot]

14. Thanks. The backyard is on the ever present Florida retention pond.

If I were to zoom out, you'd just see the backs of other suburban houses around the pond. Not exactly a wildlife refuge I'm afraid.

[Ligyron]

27. LOL, I know right?

I swear, if it wasn't for those ponds, we'd be underwater. Those and the canals.

[procon]

10. Gorgeous color! I'm so envious, all I get are

plain brown sparrows and raucous crows.

[llmart]

11. That last one...

should be entered in one of DU's photo contests. Stunning.

[Pacifist Patriot]

22. Thanks!

Got lucky with this one. Took 89 shots on sports mode to get ten keepers.

[niyad]

12. What incredible photos. Thank you so much for sharing that beautiful being with us.

[HAB911]

13. very nice!

[2naSalit]

18. OMG!

That's amazing! I have never seen one of those! The pictures are amazing!

Thanks for sharing!

[Pacifist Patriot]

25. I'd never seen one until recently.

He/She seems to have taken up residence around the retention pond behind our house a little over a week ago. Went out on a whim with a few minutes to spare before a conference call to see what I could get. My experience is primarily sports and music performance photography. My camera was still set on sports mode, so before I knew it, I had 89 shots of her/him to play with. Very lucky!

[2naSalit]

31. Truly a bit of

serendipity there! Beautiful bird. I love bird watching, they are so amazing, all of them. That's not to say I don't love to watch any wildlife, because I do and live in a wildlife rich area for that reason.

[Nitram]

19. Beautiful. Great photos!

Florida has birds we never see up here in Virginia.

[Butterflylady]

20. Love that last picture. Perfect balance.

[Pacifist Patriot]

26. Thanks!

[grantcart]

24. Wow

[CaliforniaPeggy]

28. Wow, my dear Pacifist Patriot! These are amazing and gorgeous!

The last 2 or so are breathtaking.

You have captured magic!

[Pacifist Patriot]

30. Sheer luck! LOL!

[BobTheSubgenius]

29. That's some excellent photography right there!

That bird is impressive - what a colour!!

[plcdude]

33. Great job

Thank you

[BarbD]

34. So cool!

[barbtries]

35. that is so cool.

i like your backyard

[bullimiami]

36. I grew up in So Fla. Thats one of my favorite birds along with Snowy Egrets and Wood Storks.

[seta1950]

37. Beautiful

Nice backyard 🙂

[NoRoadUntravelled]

38. Beautiful photos!

[Tanuki]

39. How gorgeous! You are so fortunate! I have only ever seen them in the wild

at the wonderful Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island, FL. Love your photos! The bottom one is my favorite of them all.

[Illumination]

40. What a treat! Great photography! Thank you.

[jimlup]

41. Great work!

Wow!

[jaxexpat]

42. Lovely stalking.

I had a wild turkey dive bomb into my backyard last week. Walked around talking (that odd, muted, soprano undertone) to itself. She terrorized my min pin, then walked off into the woods like the AWOL guy in "More American Graffiti", poignant like. Not pink, though, surprisingly tall, willowy even.

[CaptainTruth]

43. Beautiful! I haven't seen one in my part of Brevard yet.

You did a great job with the pics!

We have plenty of ibises, osprey, herons (blue & green), anhingas, & I even saw an eagle in my back yard once (he got close to an osprey nest & the osprey forced the eagle down to the ground in my yard, I just happened to see it).

I know what you mean about the 0.2 acre lots, that's my neighborhood too. You'll understand why I jumped on my house when I saw it, it's on a curve in the road so the front yard is narrow but the back yard fans out wide, 0.44 acres total, with a detached workshop & access to the back on a street that dead ends at the canal. I can park at the dead end & move things in/out of my workshop, it's perfect for what I do.

[Pacifist Patriot]

65. I've lived in this house for almost 18 years and this is the first one I have seen.

Your house location sounds awesome, especially for this area.

[mnhtnbb]

44. Lucky you!

I will have a view of a retention pond from my new house, too. Hoping to see some water birds, eventually.

LOVE the last shot!

[ohhellyes]

45. beautiful pictures of a truly

bizarre looking bird.

[colorado_ufo]

46. Absolutely fantastic pictures!

Thank you so much for sharing them with us! This really made my day.

[PA Democrat]

47. Beautiful shots! Thanks for sharing.

[Talitha]

48. What a glorious bird - these are absolutely stunning!

Taken by an extremely talented photographer... KUDOS!

Thanks for sharing these with us!

[SheltieLover]

51. Contest entty here? 😍😍😍

Tyvm for sharing these gorgeous pix!

[CCExile]

52. Beautiful. Used to see the stray single or couple of these in the neighborhoods around...

Galveston Bay, and larger flocks on more remote parts of all Texas bays. Once, as a kid in the sixties, I saw a flock that had to be over a thousand on a remote oil lease near the town of Angleton, again near Galveston bay. These days I see the odd one or two, and recently one flock of dozens on St. Charles Bay, but not like the old days.

[moonscape]

53. Gorgeous! Bird and photos! n/t

[idziak4ever1234]

54. Nice job!

[DesertRat]

55. Wow, beautiful!

Thank you for posting!

[crickets]

56. These are breathtakingly beautiful photos! Thanks for sharing them. nt

[Skittles]

57. WOW

very impressive pics! What a treat!

[PatrickforO]

58. What a majestic bird!

Great photos!

[Trueblue Texan]

59. These photos are breathtaking!nt

[malaise]

60. Magnificent

Thanks

[lostnfound]

61. Touching heaven. Myakka state park usually had a few.

Magenta and pink against a blue sky.
Those are my favorites, but too beautiful to be locked in my mind as real. So my spirit bird is a great blue heron.

Seeing a great blue is reassuring and joyful. Swing a Roseate spoonbill is a religious experience that takes your breath away.

[Hekate]

62. Gorgeous bird, gorgeous photos

[Celerity]

63. I would vote for this in a DU photo contest, superb pic

[BainsBane]

64. Beautiful!

I saw a lot of those when I visited the Aransas Wildlife Refuge on the Texas Gulf Coast. I also saw the state bird of MN, loons, in their winter habitat.