Scarlet Ibis
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Ciconiiformes (disputed)
Family:	Threskiornithidae
Subfamily:	Threskionithinae
Genus:	Eudocimus
Species:	E. ruber
Binomial name
Eudocimus ruber Linnaeus, 1758
Range

The Scarlet Ibis (Eudocimus ruber) is a species of ibis that inhabits tropical South America and also Trinidad and Tobago. It is the national bird of Trinidad and is featured on the Trinidad and Tobago coat of arms along with Tobago's national bird, the Rufous-vented Chachalaca.

Adults are 56–61 cm long and weigh 650g. They are completely scarlet, except for black wing-tips. They nest in trees, laying two to four eggs. Their diet is fish, frogs, reptiles and crustaceans. A juvenile Scarlet Ibis is grey and white; as it grows the ingestion of red crabs in the tropical swamps gradually produces the characteristic scarlet plumage.

The life span of Scarlet Ibis is approximately 15 years in the wild and 20 years in captivity.

This species is very closely related to the American White Ibis and is sometimes considered conspecific with it.

While the species may have occurred as a natural vagrant in southern Florida in the late 1800s, all recent reports of the species in North America have been of introduced or escaped birds. Eggs from Trinidad were placed in White Ibis nests in Hialeah Park in 1962, and the resulting population hybridised with the native ibis, producing "pink ibises" that are still occasionally seen.

[edit] References

• BirdLife International (2008). Eudocimus ruber. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 05 November 2008. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
• Linblad, Jan. 1966. Journey to red birds. Trans. by Gwynne Vevers. Reprint: Collins, London. 1969.
• Zahl, Paul A. 1954. Coro-Coro: The World of the Scarlet Ibis. Bobbs-Merrill, Indianapolis / New York.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Eudocimus ruber

Scarlet Ibis Eudocimus ruber	Scarlet Ibis		Scarlet Ibis at SeaWorld, California
At Bronx zoo, NY	young scarlet ibis	At the National Aviary	Wings open