A Splash of Pink

February 27, 2024 NeRD

A female (left) and a male roseate spoonbill get together near the tall grasses at the edge of a pond in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, northwest of Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Spoonbills inhabit areas of mangrove such as on the coasts of southern Florida and Texas. These birds feed on shrimps and fish in the shallow water, sweeping their bills from side to side. This and other wildlife abound throughout Kennedy as it shares a boundary with the Wildlife Refuge, home to some of the nation’s rarest and most unusual species of wildlife. The wildlife refuge is a habitat for more than 310 species of birds, 25 mammals, 117 fishes and 65 amphibians and reptiles.