13 Facts About Scarlet ibis

Scarlet ibis is a species of ibis in the bird family Threskiornithidae.

Biologically the scarlet ibis is very closely related to the American white ibis and is sometimes considered conspecific with it, leaving modern science divided over their taxonomy.

Juvenile scarlet ibis is a mix of grey, brown, and white.

The scarlet ibis is the only shorebird with red coloration in the world.

The life span of the scarlet ibis is approximately sixteen years in the wild and twenty years in captivity.

Related searches

Range of the scarlet ibis is very large, and colonies are found throughout vast areas of South America and the Caribbean islands.

Together with its relative the bare-faced ibis, the scarlet ibis is remarkably prolific and conspicuous in the region.

Scarlet ibis vagrants have been identified in Belize, Ecuador, and Panama; Aruba, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, and Jamaica; sightings have even been made in the United States.

In one notable example from 1962, scarlet ibis eggs were placed in white ibis nests in Florida's Greynolds Park, and the resulting population hybridised easily, producing "pink ibises" that are still occasionally seen.

In contrast, the diet of the co-occurring American white Scarlet ibis there differed, the latter consuming more bugs, fish and crustaceans.

Scarlet ibis is a sociable and gregarious bird, and very communally-minded regarding the search for food and the protection of the young.

The scarlet ibis is associated with Trinidad; there are not documented records of the scarlet ibis on Tobago for the last fifteen years.

An important local habitat for the scarlet ibis is the wildlife sanctuary of Caroni Swamp of Trinidad, a 199 hectares wetland reserve first designated in 1953 specifically to provide a habitat for the scarlet ibis.