Rare bird alert: Once again, a Roseate Spoonbill visits Connecticut and the Milford Point Coastal Center

The Roseate Spoonbill stands on the mudflats next to a Laughing Gull at Milford Point on Sunday, August 28. Photo copyright Frank Mantlik.

August 28 Update
The spoonbill is still around — it was in the big marsh at the Coastal Center again today, at 3 p.m.

About 30 people were at Milford Point late yesterday afternoon to watch the Roseate Spoonbill from the Coastal Center’s observation tower.

Whether at Short Beach or Lordship Marsh in Stratford, or at Milford Point, the spoonbill has generally roosted and fed at a considerable distance, the result being that good photos have been hard to come by.

Observers who were at the Coastal Center yesterday watched the bird as it foraged on the mudflats. Near the end of the day it flew east and alighted in a group of trees often used as egrets as a roosting spot.

August 25, 2023 — A young man and his father saw it first yesterday afternoon, from the observation tower at the Milford Point Coastal Center: a Roseate Spoonbill, far off in the marsh.

The bird flew west, and Frank Mantlik, a member of Connecticut Audubon’s regional board for the Coastal Center, and at least five other birders found it shortly before dusk at Short Beach, Stratford. This morning, the bird was back in the marsh at the Coastal Center.

Roseate Spoonbills are year-round residents further south — North Carolina is the upper limit of its range. But birds wander north after nesting season, and it seems to be happening more often and further north.

Connecticut had no record of Roseate Spoonbill until September 2018, when one spent three weeks or so in and around the Coastal Center and near the mouth of the Housatonic River in general. This year’s bird is the fourth to visit the state in the last six years.

Among those who climbed the observation tower at Milford Point to see the Roseate Spoonbill on Friday were Tom Murray, taking a break on the bench, and Ellynne Plotnick, right. Photo by Stefan Martin.

Frank Mantlk took to eBird to describe what he saw at Short Beach: “Immature roosting in trees, with 8 Snowy Egrets, at N edge of old landfill along shore of tidal lagoon/marsh at N end of park. I first spotted it from near airport along Rt 113 (illegal to stop vehicle), then found a place within park to view it. Large long-legged pink-winged and white-bodied wader, a bit larger and longer winged than SNEG (i.e., Snowy Egret), with distinctive long, spatula-shaped bill.

“I got word out, and about six other birders arrived in time to see it. Eventually some of the egrets left the roost, then at 7:14pm, the Spoonbill and the last egret flew east over the tidal channel right past us.”

We will continue to provide updates.

Sign up for Connecticut Audubon’s Rare Bird Alert. We’ll keep you updated via text on the whereabouts of the Roseate Spoonbill and other rarites as they occur.