The Story
I photographed this juvenile Scarlet Ibis (Eudocimus ruber) at the Kofán Centro Ecoturístico, near Puerto Asís, Putumayo, Colombia, in February 2020. Young Scarlet Ibises are a mix of gray, brown and white. A diet heavy in red crustaceans brings out the scarlet color, which starts on the back around the time a young bird begins to fly and spreads over about two years. It probes soft mud and the ground under plants with its long, thin bill, and a study in the Llanos found that much of its diet there is insects, mostly scarab and ground beetles. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 3200, −1 EV. Puerto Asís, on the west bank of the Putumayo River, was founded on May 3, 1912, by Capuchin missionaries.
©2020 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Scarlet Ibis (Eudocimus ruber) belongs to the family Threskiornithidae (Ibises and Spoonbills) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2025), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List