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Distinguishing Characteristics
Adult non-breeding White Ibis, Cape Hatteras, NC, December
Adult breeding White Ibis
Juvenile White Ibis, Hatteras, NC, 15 October 2005
Medium-size wading bird with dark wingtips. Total length: 56–68 cm; weight 750–1,050 g. Relatively long bill, neck, and legs. Bill pink and strongly decurved, longer in males than females. Feet moderately sized with slightly webbed toes, the longest with a cupped nail. Face and legs bare and pink, or flesh colored to red, depending on season. Eyes light blue in adults.
Juveniles mostly brown; distinguished from dark Plegadis ibises by white rump and underparts. Youngest stages of White Ibis and Scarlet Ibis are virtually identical until the latter begin to develop pink tinges on rump and elsewhere.
Heath, Julie A., Peter Frederick, James A. Kushlan and Keith L. Bildstein. 2009. White Ibis (Eudocimus albus), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/009
