Geographic range:
Nearctic, Neotropical: E. albus can be found from SE USA through W
Mexico and south down to Central and South America (to N. Peru and
French Guayana).
Physical characteristics: Large wading
bird with wing span of 58-69 cm and height of around 100 cm. Predominant
color is white. Tips of wings are black in adults, but usually hidden
at rest. Bare face and down-curved bill are red as well as legs in
breeding season. The rest of the year, legs are slate-gray. Immatures
are brown above and white below, with brown bill and legs. Ibises
can be told from herons by decurved bill. Neck is held outstretched
during flight.
Food habits: White ibis feeds by
wading and probing the water with bill. Main food items are crayfish,
crabs, insects and frogs.
Reproduction: This species nests
in colonies founded on trees over water. Nest building begins usually
in May and early June. Building material includes live or dead woody
plants. Typically a clutch of 3 or 4 greenish-white eggs with dark
spots or blotches is laid. Both parents incubate the eggs for 21 -
23 days and chicks fledge in 28 - 50 days.
Behavior: White Ibis is a highly
sociable species, which nests, feeds, roosts, and flies in flocks.
Inside the nesting grounds, small nesting territories are defended
by the males.
Habitat: E. albus can be found
in a variety of habitats:
Barriers, marshes, spoil islands on the coast, and islands in inland
lakes are the preferred nesting sites for the White Ibis. Feeding
habitats include sedge marshes, cypress swamps, salt marshes, and
mangrove swamps.
|
|
