White Ibis

Table

White Ibis – Accepted
1. 15–20 Nov 1935	HY	Pt. Loma SD	1986-036	10	ph., SDNHM 17099
2. 10–24 Jul 1976	ATY	n end Salton Sea RIV
and 05 Aug 1976		s end Salton Sea IMP	1976-045	3
and 25 Jun–14 Jul 1977		Unit 1, Salton Sea NWR IMP	1978-049	5,24
White Ibis – Not accepted, identification not established
01 Jul 2000		vic. Maxwell COL	2000-102	26
White Ibis – Not accepted, natural occurrence questionable (identification established)
14–19 May 1971	ATY	Bolinas MRN
and 27 Jun–15 Sep 1971		San Rafael MRN	1981-014	8	ph., not in 1977, cf. Luther et al. (1983)
22 Apr (“Mar–May”) 1978	SY	Malibu Canyon LA	1978-105	6	Fig. 91, ph.
and 06–12 Jun 1978		Pt. Mugu VEN			ph., AB 32:1207, Webster et al. (1980)
and 12 Dec 1978–Mar 1979		Santa Clara R. mouth VEN			Webster et al. (1980)
and 09 Sep 1979					R. E. Webster unpubl. data
and 26 Sep–13 Oct 1979		Pt. Mugu VEN			R. E. Webster unpubl. data
and 22 Dec 1979					LACM 90516
White Ibis – Not submitted
? Mar 1914		Palo Verde IMP		14	Lincoln (1923), Grinnell & Miller (1944)
30 Dec 1978	2	Riverside RIV			AB 33:669, “probable escapees”
29 Jul–26 Aug 1979		Irvine ORA			Hamilton and Willick (1996), “probable escapee”

Figures

Figure 91. The Committee questioned the natural occurrence of this first-spring White Ibis, photographed on 22 April 1978 in Malibu Canyon, Los Angeles County. A White Ibis of this age escaped from a nearby animal park around the same time (1978-105; George K. Bryce).

White Ibis

WHITE IBIS Eudocimus albus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Accepted: 2 (40%)	Treated in Appendix H: yes
Not accepted: 3	CBRC review: all records
Not submitted/reviewed: 4	Color Figure: none

On the Pacific coast, this ibis is resident in Baja California Sur and from central Sinaloa southward. Vagrants that probably originate from these populations occur casually in the Southwest. This species also occurs in the Southeast, from Virginia southward, and along the Atlantic coast of Middle America and the West Indies south to northern and western South America. Vagrants presumed to originate from Atlantic slope populations wander very rarely, but somewhat regularly, to the Northeast, southeastern Canada, and the central United States. Especially far-flung records come from southwestern Manitoba, North Dakota, Washington, Oregon, southern Idaho, Utah (NAB 59:191), and Clipperton Atoll.

California’s first acceptable White Ibis was a first-fall female present from 15 to 20 November 1935 at Pt. Loma, San Diego County (Huey 1936). The only other accepted record refers to an adult that frequented various locations around the Salton Sea in 1976 and 1977; see also Appendix H. Although possibly correct, a March 1914 sight report from Palo Verde in Imperial County (Lincoln 1923) lacks adequate documentation.

Figure 91 shows a first-spring White Ibis that appeared in Malibu Canyon, Los Angeles County, in 1978—around the time one escaped from the nearby (and now defunct) Busch Gardens. An adult believed to have been the same individual was later collected at Pt. Mugu, Ventura County (Binford 1983). This situation, and other known and apparent instances of this species escaping captivity in southern California, cast doubt on an earlier record of an adult White Ibis photographed in coastal Marin County (Morlan 1985). The Committee did not endorse either record as pertaining to a naturally occurring vagrant.

California’s dearth of records, particularly around the Salton Sea and on the lower Colorado River, seems odd juxtaposed with the occurrence of at least a dozen birds in southern Arizona since 1977 (e.g., Rosenberg and Witzeman 1998).