The pond is near the coast, about 8 miles from here, on the north edge of St. Augustine. The Spoonbills seem to prefer saltwater feeding areas. They are highly specialized. The bill is incredibly sensitive to touch, they feed by swinging the bill from side to side in the water and grab any goodies they touch. The pink color comes from the iodine in their crustacean diet, same as Flamingos.
They were scarce around here for years, now we have a small breeding colony and they are doing pretty good.
Spoonbills in St. Augustine! North of me in Ocala! I thought that they never got much further north than the Everglades.