Platalea ajaja
Status: Rare casual summer visitor south-central and southeast.
Documentation: Description: 16 Sep 1884, Lincoln, Lancaster Co (Swenk 1932, Bray et al 1986).
Taxonomy: No subspecies are recognized.
Formerly placed in the monotypic genus Ajaia, the latter now merged with Platalea (Banks et al 2002).
Summer: There are four accepted records. The 1932 Buffalo Co specimen (below) was at one time in the Brooking collection (Brooking 1942) but cannot now be located (Bray et al 1986).
5 Jun 1932 Buffalo Co (Swenk 1932, Bray et al 1986)
5 and 14 Aug 1997 juvenile Otoe Co (Dinsmore 1999, Brogie 1998)
20 Aug 1966 two near Hastings, Adams Co (Maunder 1966)
16 Sep 1884 Lancaster Co (Lincoln Daily News, Swenk 1932, Bray et al 1986).
Comments: Individuals occasionally wander north in the interior during the summer months; there are several records for Kansas Mar-Sep (Thompson et al 2011, eBird.org, accessed December 2017), two for Iowa Aug-Sep (Kent and Dinsmore 1996; eBird.org, accessed December 2017), and one for Colorado in Sep (CBRC), but none for South Dakota (eBird.org, accessed December 2017).
Abbreviations
CBRC: Colorado Bird Records Committee
Literature Cited
Banks, R.C., C. Cicero, J.L. Dunn, A.W. Kratter, P.C. Rasmussen, J.V. Remsen, Jr., J.A. Rising, and D.F. Stotz. 2002. Forty-third supplement to the American Ornithologists’ Union check-list of North American birds. Auk 119: 897-906.
Bray, T.E., B.K. Padelford, and W.R. Silcock. 1986. The birds of Nebraska: A critically evaluated list. Published by the authors, Bellevue, Nebraska, USA.
Brogie, M.A. 1998. 1997 (Ninth) Report of the NOU Records Committee. NBR 66: 147-159.
Brooking, A.M. 1942. A record of the Roseate Spoonbill for Nebraska. NBR 10: 52.
Colorado Bird Records Committee [CBRC]. 2017. Roseate Spoonbill. Colorado Bird Records Committee database, accessed 18 February 2018.
Dinsmore, S.J. 1999. Roseate Spoonbill in Otoe County. NBR 67: 80-81.
Maunder, V. 1966. Roseate Spoonbill. NBR 34: 77.
Swenk, M.H. 1932. Letters of Information 66: 12.
Recommended Citation
Silcock, W.R., and J.G. Jorgensen. 2021. Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja). In Birds of Nebraska — Online. www.BirdsofNebraska.org
Birds of Nebraska – Online
Updated 3 Oct 2021
