Fox 11 News reported that a birdwatcher in Green Bay, Wisconsin, made a rare sighting of the roseate spoonbill, a pink bird that marks the first confirmed sighting of its kind in the state in 178 years.
Logan Lasee, a naturalist and birdwatcher, noticed the bird hanging out with a flock of geese on a mud flat, prompting him to inform the local outlet.
He said, 'Not many pink birds. It’s either a flamingo or a spoonbill. While I was looking out on a mud flat, this bird was actually hanging out with a flock of geese. So I started calling people.'
As described by All About Birds, a spoonbill with pink feathers, red eyes, a partly bald head, and a giant spoon-shaped bill, it “looks like it came straight out of a Dr. Seuss book,”
Lasee said, “This is a really large shorebird, that’s typically seen in the very southern part of the United States, There are breeding colonies in Texas, Louisiana, and Florida. So for one to come up here, it’s very rare. There’s actually only two records now of this bird being in the state and the last one before this was 1845,”
According to the National Audobon Society, the roseate spoonbill, once popular in the southeast until the 1860s when they were“virtually eliminated,” is now considered vulnerable and uncommon due to habitat loss.
The birdwatcher suggested that the spotted spoonbill is likely a child and its appearance in the Midwest may be attributed to recent weather events.
