Roseate Spoonbill populations in north Florida along the Gulf Coast and elsewhere are stable and even increasing in some places, which is where I first spotted these amazing birds for the first time. However, spoonbill numbers are declining in the broad estuary sandwiched between the Everglades, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Keys. The key offender is poor water management in the Everglades, which has dramatically altered water depths and salinity levels in Florida Bay. For a wading bird on a special diet, this is life threatening. “I think the public says, ‘The Everglades are a national park, everything’s okay,’ ” says wildlife conservation biologist, Mac Stone. “But if you don’t protect the water—the life source—coming to it, you’ve got nothing. You can put up as many fences, signs, whatever. None of it matters if you don’t have the water.” In addition to the conservation of these beautiful birds, there’s more at stake. The Florida Bay and the greater Everglades provides millions of dollars to the state’s economy through recreation, tourism, and commercial fishing, which has kept teams of scientists on the job. The survival of the spoonbills, will only come with the survival of the everglades. “Spoonbills have become the indicator for the overall health of the Everglades,” explains Stone. “They’re representative of the whole ecosystem. They require the fish, and the fish require the submerged aquatic vegetation, and the submerged aquatic vegetation requires the input of freshwater.” The warning is quite clear; “As goes the spoonbill, so goes the bay.”