Field Guide : Scarlet Ibis
Unlimited edition. 18 x 24 inch, museum-quality poster on matte paper.
The scarlet ibis is aptly named. Look closely, however, and you’ll see that the dominant scarlet or red is in fact an exuberant mix of scarlet, salmons, melon, and crimson. Like flamingos, those bright colors are a result of the ibis’ beta carotene-heavy diet. The birds eat crustaceans with high carotenoid levels, metabolizing the compound which makes their plumage pink to scarlet. Coastal birds are often redder than their inland counterparts, a result of the greater concentrations of carotenoid-rich crustaceans in coastal habitat. The scarlet ibis’ diet is broad, however, and not entirely composed of crustaceans – they dine on crabs, bivalves, gastropods, worms, insects, fish, lizards, and snakes.
In flight, the black tips of the bird’s largest primary feathers stand out, but when viewing the bird perched or standing in profile (as I do for this project), most of that black is unseen. I include a zoomed-in detail of the color column's base here to show some of the smallest percentages in the bird, including the blues of their iris.
The bird’s astonishing color isn’t the only reason I find this species so compelling. It’s the very uncertainty as to whether or not this bird is a distinct species! Some ornithologists regard the scarlet ibis as a subspecies of white ibis (Eudocimus albus), a bird that looks essentially the same, but with white plumage rather than scarlet. Genetic sequencing shows enough genetic difference for some taxonomists to split the birds into two species, with the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology describing the split approach as “the prevailing trend,” but the white ibis and scarlet ibis are, as Cornell acknowledges, “extremely similar in plumage pattern, bare parts, morphology, ecology, and behavior. They also show extensive natural hybridization in the zone of overlap in the Venezuelan and Colombian llanos, where the two seem to occupy the same ecological niche, feed in the same areas, form mixed flocks, share the same diet, occupy the same roosts, show similar breeding behavior, and readily form mixed pairs.” In other words, except for color and non-trivial genetic separation, these two (or one) species are pretty much the same. I tend to be a “lumper,” not a “splitter,” but for this species I’ll go with the majority opinion….for now. More research might tip the scales one way or the other and, if so, this poster will need a subspecies update!
Note: These archival poster prints feature rich, appealing colors. I encourage customers to take care in handling them until they are framed/protected for display; the darker colors on the matte paper can be scratched. They ship rolled, so customers need to flatten them before framing (or have their framer do so).
Charitable Sales Model: Whenever one of these poster prints is purchased, a charitable contribution equal to 10% of the print’s cost (or $3.60) is made to a nonprofit working to tackle environmental or social challenges. Read more about my charitable sales model here.
Unlimited edition. 18 x 24 inch, museum-quality poster on matte paper.
The scarlet ibis is aptly named. Look closely, however, and you’ll see that the dominant scarlet or red is in fact an exuberant mix of scarlet, salmons, melon, and crimson. Like flamingos, those bright colors are a result of the ibis’ beta carotene-heavy diet. The birds eat crustaceans with high carotenoid levels, metabolizing the compound which makes their plumage pink to scarlet. Coastal birds are often redder than their inland counterparts, a result of the greater concentrations of carotenoid-rich crustaceans in coastal habitat. The scarlet ibis’ diet is broad, however, and not entirely composed of crustaceans – they dine on crabs, bivalves, gastropods, worms, insects, fish, lizards, and snakes.
In flight, the black tips of the bird’s largest primary feathers stand out, but when viewing the bird perched or standing in profile (as I do for this project), most of that black is unseen. I include a zoomed-in detail of the color column's base here to show some of the smallest percentages in the bird, including the blues of their iris.
The bird’s astonishing color isn’t the only reason I find this species so compelling. It’s the very uncertainty as to whether or not this bird is a distinct species! Some ornithologists regard the scarlet ibis as a subspecies of white ibis (Eudocimus albus), a bird that looks essentially the same, but with white plumage rather than scarlet. Genetic sequencing shows enough genetic difference for some taxonomists to split the birds into two species, with the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology describing the split approach as “the prevailing trend,” but the white ibis and scarlet ibis are, as Cornell acknowledges, “extremely similar in plumage pattern, bare parts, morphology, ecology, and behavior. They also show extensive natural hybridization in the zone of overlap in the Venezuelan and Colombian llanos, where the two seem to occupy the same ecological niche, feed in the same areas, form mixed flocks, share the same diet, occupy the same roosts, show similar breeding behavior, and readily form mixed pairs.” In other words, except for color and non-trivial genetic separation, these two (or one) species are pretty much the same. I tend to be a “lumper,” not a “splitter,” but for this species I’ll go with the majority opinion….for now. More research might tip the scales one way or the other and, if so, this poster will need a subspecies update!
Note: These archival poster prints feature rich, appealing colors. I encourage customers to take care in handling them until they are framed/protected for display; the darker colors on the matte paper can be scratched. They ship rolled, so customers need to flatten them before framing (or have their framer do so).
Charitable Sales Model: Whenever one of these poster prints is purchased, a charitable contribution equal to 10% of the print’s cost (or $3.60) is made to a nonprofit working to tackle environmental or social challenges. Read more about my charitable sales model here.
Unlimited edition. 18 x 24 inch, museum-quality poster on matte paper.
The scarlet ibis is aptly named. Look closely, however, and you’ll see that the dominant scarlet or red is in fact an exuberant mix of scarlet, salmons, melon, and crimson. Like flamingos, those bright colors are a result of the ibis’ beta carotene-heavy diet. The birds eat crustaceans with high carotenoid levels, metabolizing the compound which makes their plumage pink to scarlet. Coastal birds are often redder than their inland counterparts, a result of the greater concentrations of carotenoid-rich crustaceans in coastal habitat. The scarlet ibis’ diet is broad, however, and not entirely composed of crustaceans – they dine on crabs, bivalves, gastropods, worms, insects, fish, lizards, and snakes.
In flight, the black tips of the bird’s largest primary feathers stand out, but when viewing the bird perched or standing in profile (as I do for this project), most of that black is unseen. I include a zoomed-in detail of the color column's base here to show some of the smallest percentages in the bird, including the blues of their iris.
The bird’s astonishing color isn’t the only reason I find this species so compelling. It’s the very uncertainty as to whether or not this bird is a distinct species! Some ornithologists regard the scarlet ibis as a subspecies of white ibis (Eudocimus albus), a bird that looks essentially the same, but with white plumage rather than scarlet. Genetic sequencing shows enough genetic difference for some taxonomists to split the birds into two species, with the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology describing the split approach as “the prevailing trend,” but the white ibis and scarlet ibis are, as Cornell acknowledges, “extremely similar in plumage pattern, bare parts, morphology, ecology, and behavior. They also show extensive natural hybridization in the zone of overlap in the Venezuelan and Colombian llanos, where the two seem to occupy the same ecological niche, feed in the same areas, form mixed flocks, share the same diet, occupy the same roosts, show similar breeding behavior, and readily form mixed pairs.” In other words, except for color and non-trivial genetic separation, these two (or one) species are pretty much the same. I tend to be a “lumper,” not a “splitter,” but for this species I’ll go with the majority opinion….for now. More research might tip the scales one way or the other and, if so, this poster will need a subspecies update!
Note: These archival poster prints feature rich, appealing colors. I encourage customers to take care in handling them until they are framed/protected for display; the darker colors on the matte paper can be scratched. They ship rolled, so customers need to flatten them before framing (or have their framer do so).
Charitable Sales Model: Whenever one of these poster prints is purchased, a charitable contribution equal to 10% of the print’s cost (or $3.60) is made to a nonprofit working to tackle environmental or social challenges. Read more about my charitable sales model here.