Animal

White ibis

Eudocimus albus

Also known as: American white ibis, Eudocimus albus

Medium-large white wading bird of the U.S. southeastern coastal plain and Caribbean — one of the most-observed birds in the New Orleans metro (1,400+ iNaturalist observations from inside the city limits). Adults are unmistakable: bright white body, black wingtips, naked red face and legs, and a long down-curved red bill used to probe shallow water and mud for crayfish, fiddler crabs, snails, and small fish. Highly gregarious; flocks of 50–500 birds work tidal flats, drainage ditches, and city parks together. Population center is the Florida Everglades, but the species has expanded northward and westward as wetlands recover; the New Orleans population is dense and visible year-round, including in suburban and downtown park settings.

Scientific

Eudocimus albus is in the Threskiornithidae (ibises and spoonbills). Adults are 22–27 inches long with a 35–41-inch wingspan and a bright-red, down-curved bill. Juveniles are mottled brown-and-white for their first year, gradually whitening through the second; immature birds are often confused with other wading-bird juveniles by new birders.

Foraging is tactile: the bird probes mud and shallow water with its bill, snapping shut on detected prey. The diet is dominated by [[red-swamp-crawfish|crayfish]] in freshwater contexts and fiddler crabs in coastal marshes; insect, snail, and small-fish prey are common. Foraging is highly social — large flocks work tidal-flat and ditch margins together, with individual birds spaced just out of bill’s reach.

Breeding is colonial in mixed-species rookeries (with great egret, [[snowy-egret|snowy egret]], tricolored heron, glossy ibis) in cypress, mangrove, or willow stands over standing water. Clutch is 2–3 eggs; both parents incubate. Florida Everglades populations once exceeded 200,000 birds; population declines through the 1980s prompted significant federal Everglades-restoration work.

In New Orleans

The species is one of the most-observed birds in the [[french-quarter|New Orleans]] metro. Flocks of 30–100 birds work the drainage ditches along Lakeshore Drive, the canals of City Park and Audubon Park, and the marsh edges of Bayou Sauvage. Roost sites along Bayou St. John and at the Audubon Zoo support sustained urban populations year-round. Birds are remarkably tolerant of pedestrian traffic; close observation is easier here than in most of the species’ range.

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Scientific

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New Orleans the most-observed wading bird in the metro; flocks visible in city parks and drainage ditches year-round

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Scientific

In New Orleans

See also

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