{"id":14910,"date":"2014-05-07T04:46:59","date_gmt":"2014-05-07T10:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=14910"},"modified":"2025-09-21T10:57:35","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T15:57:35","slug":"a-white-ibis-in-dark-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/05\/07\/a-white-ibis-in-dark-water\/","title":{"rendered":"White Ibis In Dark Water"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WhiteWhite Ibis in dark water – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/500, ISO 320, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

When I lived in Tampa, Florida\u00a0the Whites Ibises were often called “<\/strong>Lawn Chickens<\/em>” <\/strong>because they would feed in people’s yards in big flocks.<\/p>\n

This bird is an adult in nonbreeding plumage. When this ibis species goes into breeding plumage the bill and the legs turn a deep crimson red. Juvenile White Ibis have variable tan, brown, and white plumage.<\/p>\n

White Ibis<\/span><\/a> eat small crustaceans such as crayfish, blue and fiddler crabs, small fish and frogs and they will also eat insects. The photo above was taken while the ibis foraged in a saltwater lagoon but White Ibises can also be found in freshwater wetlands, marshes, swamps, fields flooded with water and in grassy lawns.<\/p>\n

I was sitting in the shallow water of a lagoon when I created this image to get a nice low angle. The greens you see in the water of this photo are the leaves of mangroves being reflected and this was taken in early morning light which helps a great deal when photographing white birds.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my White Ibis photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n

(Photo taken March 2009)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I lived in Tampa, Florida the Whites Ibises were often called “Lawn Chickens” because they would feed in people’s yards in big flocks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":157305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,25,704,364],"tags":[4004,5229,6458,4213,4040,173,3721,5148,3997,4036,4246,3980,4001,3996,478,373],"class_list":["post-14910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-white-ibises","tag-adult","tag-coast","tag-dark","tag-eudocimus-albus","tag-feeding","tag-gulf-coast","tag-ibis","tag-ibises","tag-lagoon","tag-low-angle","tag-nonbreeding-plumage","tag-pinellas-county","tag-wading-bird","tag-water","tag-white-ibis","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/white-ibis-feeding-green-water-2-mia-mcpherson-0194.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-3Su","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2131,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/03\/22\/white-ibis\/","url_meta":{"origin":14910,"position":0},"title":"White Ibis","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 22, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"In Florida White Ibis (Eudocimus albus) are a fairly common wading bird in Florida they are also seen along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico","rel":"","context":"In "Bird ID"","block_context":{"text":"Bird ID","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/bird-identification\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile White Ibis in a tidal lagoon, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/white-ibis-juvenile-florida-mia-mcpherson-7780.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/white-ibis-juvenile-florida-mia-mcpherson-7780.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/white-ibis-juvenile-florida-mia-mcpherson-7780.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/white-ibis-juvenile-florida-mia-mcpherson-7780.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11088,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/11\/24\/white-ibis-in-breeding-and-nonbreeding-plumage\/","url_meta":{"origin":14910,"position":1},"title":"White Ibis In Breeding And Nonbreeding Plumage","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"There isn't much of a change between the plumage in breeding and nonbreeding White Ibis, primarily the differences are in the legs, bill and lores.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"White Ibis adult in nonbreeding 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6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This is an adult White Ibis (Eudocimus albus) that I photographed at Fort De Soto's north beach that was feeding in a tidal lagoon by the mangroves","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult White Ibis in the dark waters of a lagoon, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/white-ibis-adult-mia-mcpherson-0224.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/white-ibis-adult-mia-mcpherson-0224.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/white-ibis-adult-mia-mcpherson-0224.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/white-faced-ibis-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-7409.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/white-faced-ibis-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-7409.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/white-faced-ibis-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-7409.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/white-faced-ibis-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-7409.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":57380,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/04\/22\/white-faced-ibis-with-a-wet-head-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":14910,"position":4},"title":"White-faced Ibis With A Wet Head At Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 22, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"This White-faced Ibis had been feeding in the shallow water and had gotten its head soaking wet right before I photographed it and the ibis was in the process of getting ready to shake the water from its head feathers.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"White-faced Ibis with a wet head, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, 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19, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"In just a few weeks the White-faced Ibis that are in breeding plumage right now will begin to molt into their nonbreeding plumage and I thought this might be a good time to show some of the differences.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"White-faced Ibis in breeding plumage all fluffed up, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/white-faced-ibis-fluffy-mia-mcpherson-0702.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/white-faced-ibis-fluffy-mia-mcpherson-0702.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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