Figure 92. Remarkable influxes of Roseate Spoonbills to California in 1973 and 1977 precipitated the species’ temporary removal from the CBRC review list. This individual, photographed on 18 September 1977 in Goleta, Santa Barbara County, is believed to have later flown south to Pt. Mugu in Ventura County (Webster et al. 1980), although the latter report was never reviewed (2004-335; Brad Schram).

 

 

 

 

 

ROSEATE SPOONBILL Platalea ajaja (Linnaeus, 1758)

Accepted: 119 (98%)	Treated in Appendix H: yes
Not accepted: 3	CBRC review: all records1
Not submitted/reviewed: 73	Color image: page H-16

This charismatic wading bird occupies coastal wetlands in central and southern Florida and on the Gulf coast of western Louisiana and Texas. The species is also found in the West Indies and along both coasts of Middle America—as close to California as southern Sonora—and south to South America, where its range is extensive. Northern populations are partially migratory, and post-breeding-season wanderers sporadically reach the central Great Plains, Midwest, and mid Atlantic coast, occurring casually as far north as New York. This species is also casual in the Southwest, including the Baja California Peninsula, with a particularly exceptional 2 July 1919 record of a flock of five in northwestern Utah.

The first California record of a Roseate Spoonbill that is supported by a description—and the earliest one accepted by the CBRC—involves a bird observed on 20 June 1903 near San Bernardino, San Bernardino County (Stephens 1904). A first-spring male collected on 22 May 1927 at the south end of the Salton Sea in Imperial County (MVZ 51702) that was widely reported to be the state’s first specimen (Pemberton 1927, Grinnell and Miller 1944, Garrett and Dunn 1981) is predated by a first-fall female collected on 2 October 1924 near Calipatria, Imperial County (Patten et al. 2003, WFVZ 1451). Much earlier, Gambel (1849) vaguely referred to several reports that extended up the coast as far as San Francisco, San Francisco County. The northernmost record endorsed by the CBRC involves a bird present from 1 January to 13 February 1978 near Castroville, Monterey County. The Committee has yet to review a record from the state’s interior north of San Bernardino County, but published accounts exist from Fresno and Kern Counties (see the table of records).

The Committee’s 1972 decision to start reviewing records of the Roseate Spoonbill came just before the state’s two largest known influxes of this species, which produced records of 79 birds in 1973 and 17 birds in 1977 (plus additional reports not reviewed; see Roberson 1980 and the table of records in this account). The substantial numbers of birds involved in these events induced the membership to suspend review between fall 1973 and the end of 1977. Committee review resumed in 1978, but it was not until 2005 that the CBRC compiled a list of published records and started evaluating those from before 1972 as well as those from the mid-1970s gap. Lack of documentation has prevented the review of numerous older reports.

Most of California’s records come from the Salton Sink, where spoonbills were recorded during 12 years between 1951 and 1983 (some not submitted; Patten et al. 2003) but only once during the ensuing 20 years. California’s drop-off in spoonbill records in recent decades coincides with possible declines in western Mexican breeding populations (see Russell and Monson 1998). The 1980s yielded records of only two birds in the state, the 1990s a lone individual, and the 2000s have brought records of nine birds, all since 2004 (see Appendix H).

¹Off the review list 1973–1977