White Ibis birds are very distinctive with their pinkish faces, bills and legs that turn bright red during breeding season. They have snow white bodies with black wing tips on top of very long legs. If this doesn’t make them distinctive enough, look at their most unusual white  eyes.

Found from the mid-Atlantic states down through Florida and west to central Texas, these birds inhabitat not only on coastal areas but on wetlands and mudflats.

White Ibis are wading birds that sweep their bills from side to side in search of food. They will also probe with their long bills into the mud for crabs and crawfish but eat a variety of foods it finds both in the water and on adjacent land.

White Ibis nest in colonies with other White Ibises, sometimes in astounding numbers as high as in the thousands.

Because they eat crabs and crawfish that eat fish eggs, White Ibis help increase the number of fish where they feed because  they are reducing the numbers of those fish egg eaters.

White Ibis are the most common wading bird found in the Everglades in Florida. With their long wings they have been known to fly long distances from their usual haunts. They are considered regular, though rare, visitors in Tennessee. And they have been found as far away from their range as North Dakota, southern California and even the coast of Washington State.

Tagged as: Birding in the Field