Overview
Scarlet Ibis: This nervous and wary South American species was introduced in Florida and is unmistakable with its bright scarlet plumage, pink skin on face, pink bill and red legs. Black primaries are seen only in flight. Often breeds with the White Ibis producing various shades of pink offspring.
Range and Habitat
Scarlet Ibis: South American species introduced in Florida either deliberately or by escaped birds. Prefers shallow marshy areas and cypress swamps as well as inland wetlands, pastures, lawns, and shallow ponds.
Ibises (Threskiornithidae)
ORDER
The CICONIIFORMES (pronounced sih-KON-ee-ih-FOR-meez) is an order made up of five families that include the herons and egrets, storks, and other wading birds such as the ibises.
FAMILY TAXONOMY
The ibis family, Threskiornithidae (pronounced thres-kih-or-NITH-uh-dee), includes thirty-four species of ibis and spoonbills in thirteen genera found on all continents except for Antarctica.
NORTH AMERICA
In North America, six species of the Threskiornithidae in four genera occur. The curve-billed ibises and Roseate Spoonbill are members of this family.
KNOWN FOR
Members of this family are mostly known for their long, distinctive bills.
PHYSICAL
Ibis and spoonbills are fairly large birds with fairly long legs adapted to walking and wading in fields and wetlands. They also have fairly long necks, broad wings, and short tails. Their bills are particularly impressive, long and downcurved in the ibises and spatulate-shaped in spoonbills.
COLORATION
North American members of this family come in a variety of colors for being represented by just six species. The brightest colored species are the Scarlet Ibis and Roseate Spoonbill. The Scarlet Ibis is vivid red with black wingtips while the spoonbill is plumaged in pinks, white, and orange. Bright red colors are also shown by the White Ibis on the face, bill, and legs to highlight its white plumage. Other ibis species in North America have a bit of red on the face and legs but are otherwise plumaged in rich brown, and dark, iridescent green plumage. Immature birds are duller than adults with brown, gray, and white tones dominating their plumage.
GEOGRAPHIC HABITAT
Most species of ibis and the Roseate Spoonbill are restricted to coastal marshes in North America and are most common in the southeastern United States. The White-faced Ibis, though, breeds in marshes in the western mountains, sometimes occurring at high elevations.
MIGRATION
Most North American species of this family are year-round residents of coastal marshes, or short-distance migrants to Mexico.
HABITS
Both ibis and spoonbills are very social birds typically found in groups while nesting in colonies and foraging. Ibis species use their long bills to pick crustaceans, frogs and other small wetland creatures out of the vegetation and shallow water as they walk through it. The Roseate Spoonbill also forages as it walks, swinging its bill back and forth in the shallow water of bays, estuaries and wetlands to feel for and grasp prey items similar to those of Ibises.
CONSERVATION
Ibis species and spoonbils have undergone serious declines in the past as a result of hunting for their plumage. Although most species in North America now have stable populations, they are still sensitive to disturbances at their nesting colonies and drainage of the wetland habitats they need. The White-faced Ibis has declined because of such drainage schemes and may also be threatened by pesticides.
INTERESTING FACTS
The Glossy Ibis is thought to have spread from Africa to the New World during the nineteenth century and reached the United States via the Caribbean. This species is closely related to the White-faced Ibis and may compete with it for resources.
The sensitive nature of this family to changes in their environment is demonstrated by several ibis and spoonbill species that have become critically endangered in Europe and Asia.