Banded Roseate Spoonbill Sheds Light on Iconic Florida Species

Spotted! Wading Bird Research Specialist Shauna Sayers caught sight of an elusive band on the leg of a Roseate Spoonbill – a critical piece of data that brings their movement, behavior, and population into focus.

Staff at the Audubon Everglades Research Station conduct weekly surveys of Roseate Spoonbill colonies in Florida Bay during nesting season to get nesting and general population data. Two of the colonies have been monitored for 30 years. In 2003, Audubon scientists began applying leg bands to chicks in nests in Florida Bay and in Tampa Bay at the Richard T. Paul Alafia Bank Bird Sanctuary. In 2013, staff also began banding birds hatching from nests at St. Augustine Alligator Farm. In total, Audubon has banded about 3,000 Roseate Spoonbills, which are considered an indicator species for Everglades ecosystem health. Banding spoonbill chicks has led to a greater understanding of dispersal rates and behavioral structures after nesting season in the Florida Bay is over.

Each band resight earns the spotter a special sticker and contributes to critical population data for this iconic Florida species.

Sayer spotted this banded spoonbill in January at the Florida Keys Wild Bird Sanctuary. It was a particularly beautiful time of day – sunset – and Sayers had followed a trail to a small pond. According to the letters on the band, the male spoonbill had been banded on Pigeon Key in 2021, so he’s at least six years old.

Have you seen a banded spoonbill? Audubon collects data from birders and interested naturalists via an online form. Let us know at: audubon.org/florida/spoonbills.

Anyone who submits a report in 2026 will receive a limited-edition sticker.

Note: Give birds their space when trying to read a bird band. Use binoculars or a long zoom lens to avoid spooking or flushing the birds.