The Scarlet Ibis is a species of ibis that lives in tropical South America and is completely scarlet-colored, except for black wing-tips. It is very closely related to the White Ibis; sometimes the two species hybridize, resulting in pink offspring.
Scarlet Ibises nest in trees and lay two to four eggs per breeding season. A juvenile Scarlet Ibis is grey and white and gradually develops its scarlet plumage after eating red crabs.
The Scarlet Ibis has a fairly large natural range, and a conservation status of Least Concern as of September 2014.
The Scarlet Ibis is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List and was last assessed in 2012 by BirdLife International. This species has a very large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). Despite the fact that the population trend appears to be decreasing, the decline is not believed to be sufficiently rapid to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is very large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
If you think our Birdorable birds are cute as adults, what about when they are babies? Below are some baby photos (shared via Flickr) of the Scarlet Ibis. Male Scarlet Ibises attract mates by performing a courtship display. They nest in large colonies; each nest will typically... Read more »
We had a lot of fun doing the Birdorable Bonanza last month and will definitely do it again once. Until our next bonanza we'll continue to add new species on a regular basis as usual. We still have quite a few suggestions and special requests on our... Read more »
