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Hernandez White Ibis Project

Welcome to the Hernandez Lab White Ibis Project! Since 2009 we have been studying the White Ibis (Eudocimus albus) in urban areas in south Florida. The main goal of our research is to understand the effects of urbanization on this bird in South Florida. We focus primarily on ibises in urban Palm Beach County. Our sites include local community parks and zoos where ibises spend a lot of time, show little fear of people, and, in most cases, are getting fed by people.

 

Connect with the Project

White Ibis Health

White ibises are beautiful wading birds, synonymous with Florida wetlands. However, likely due to rampant development, these birds have become highly urbanized. In some cases, flocks of birds are extremely habituated and beg for food in parks and neighborhoods. This shift in behavior, from foraging on aquatic invertebrates in clean water to consuming anthropogenic food, may come at a cost to their health. Dr. Hernandez is investigating two themes: 1) what is the consequence of this shift in behavior for the health of ibises, 2) do ibises play a role as carriers of potentially zoonotic pathogens?

The Ibis Band Re-sighting Project

We hope to use unique color bands to identify and re-sight ibis to study how often they use urban areas and to better understand possible implications of their movements on their health. You can help by looking for our banded ibis and reporting any sightings to us. Check out the "Report Ibis Sightings" page for more information on how to report your ibis sightings.

 

Note: the ibis pictured to the right has a green/black combination band on the right leg and a red band on top of a blue band on the left. This birds' unique band combination is “Green/black Red Blue (GbkRBl)”. The green/black combination band on the right leg signifies that this bird was captured at Indian Creek Park in Jupiter, FL. 

About the White Ibis

About the White Ibis | back to top

The White Ibis (Eudocimus albus) is a semi-nomadic wading bird found in wetland and coastal areas of the southern United States, Central America, and northern South America. Adult ibis have snowy white feathers, pink or red colored faces and legs, and a distinctive curved bill. Juvenile ibis have both brown and white feathers. Ibis typically eat crayfish, frogs, and small fish. They may also eat terrestrial invertebrates from agricultural areas, residential yards, and urban parks. Ibis in some urban areas have become habituated to people and will accept and beg for human food, including bread.

White Ibis suffered large population declines over the past century and are now listed as a Species of Special Concern in Florida. Their current and future success is closely tied to the success of ongoing Everglades ecosystem restoration projects. Ibis use of urban habitats may offer an alternative to their wild Everglades habitat but comes with additional challenges for the birds. Ibis may have better and more consistent access to food at landfills and water treatment wetlands, in residential yards, and at various urban parks. They may also deal with increased stressors, poorer quality food, and increased exposure to disease from environmental sources and other wild animals.

 

Ibis that visit urban habitats often continue to forage for wild prey. We believe they roost nightly and breed in wild habitats. However some appear to visit the same urban sites every day. We do not currently know to what extent ibis visit and re-visit urban sites, whether they largely rely upon human food or use it as a supplement, or how human food and urban habitat use affects their health. If urban habitats do not impede the continued health and success of ibis, then such areas could serve an important role as alternative habitat. Research into ibis health and urban habitat use may also help us to better understand and conserve other Everglades wading bird species.

Project Information

Project Information | back to top

The Ibis Band Re-sighting Project

 

In order to understand more about the effects of urbanization on the White Ibis, we must first assess time spent in urban areas. These birds are nomadic by nature, but based on our observations, we think that these urban ibises seem more sedentary. If they are, in fact, spending most of their time in urban parks there could be negative effects on their health. (For more information on these negative effects, go to “About the White Ibis” section of this page.) We will determine site fidelity in order to assess the proportion of time spent in urban areas by ibises. 

Starting in July 2013, ibises were captured in seven urban sites located within Palm Beach County, Florida. Some of the adult ibises were chosen to be equipped with a radio transmitter. We use a backpack harness to attach the quarter-sized transmitter to the ibis. The entire weight of the harness is minimal and does not hurt the bird in any way. Each ibis gets a unique frequency and can be tracked using a radio receiver and antenna. All sites will be routinely visited and all banded birds will be documented.

 

Each ibis gets a unique combination of colored leg bands. On the right leg is a single colored band that is unique to the site we captured the ibis at. On the left leg are two colored bands that are unique to that bird for that site. These bands are fairly large and easy to see, even without binoculars if you are close enough. 

 

But we would also like for anyone who sees our birds to let us know when and where you saw it! Visit the “Report Ibis Sightings” page to learn more about submitting sightings to us.

 

Our sites:

  • Pelican Lake/Kagan Park – Juno Beach, FL

    • 14 TOTAL captured/banded – 4 radio tagged      

    • SITE COLOR: Silver      

  • Prosperity Oaks Senior Living Community – Palm Beach Gardens, FL

    • 12 TOTAL captured/banded – 4 radio tagged

    • SITE COLOR: Orange

  • Indian Creek Park – Jupiter, FL

    • 16 TOTAL captured/banded – 4 radio tagged

    • SITE COLOR: Green/black

  • Promenade Plaza – Palm Beach Gardens, FL

    • 9 TOTAL captured/banded – 4 radio tagged

    • SITE COLOR: Green

  • Lion Country Safari – Loxahatchee, FL

    • 10 TOTAL captured/banded – 4 radio tagged

    • SITE COLOR: Purple

  • Dreher Park – West Palm Beach, FL

    • 16 TOTAL captured/banded – 4 radio tagged

    • SITE COLOR: Red/black

  • John Prince Park – Lake Worth, FL

    • 15 TOTAL captured/banded – 4 radio tagged

    • SITE COLOR: Blue

 

The Solid Waste Authority Project

 

A wading bird rookery located on the Solid Waste Management Authority (SWA) property in West Palm Beach averages ~4,400 white ibises each year, with a peak of 13,000 (July 2007) and a low of 450 (August 2004). In 2015, a second municipal waste combustor will be in full commercial operation, which will reduce the garbage on the landfill. This may negatively impact the ibises that currently roost, nest, and forage on SWA grounds. To be able to predict whether abundance and utilization of the site by ibises is likely to decrease, we need to determine site fidelity of the current ibis population at SWA. In March 2014, we captured 124 adult White Ibises at SWA, 100 of which were large enough to be equipped with a radio transmitter harness and colored bands. Radio telemetry data logging stations were set up at three locations on the SWA property that continuously scans through all the radio transmitter signals to gather presence/absence data. Additional locations will be determined using hand held telemetry equipment. Abundance will be measured through dawn flight-line counts at the SWA rookery. 

 

 

We would also like for anyone who sees our birds to let us know when and where you saw it! Visit the “Report Ibis Sightings” section of this page to learn more about submitting sightings to us.

Helpful Info & Resources

Great Blue Heron

Boat-tailed Grackle

Great Egret

Brown Pelican

Anhinga

Osprey

Muscovy Duck

Laughing Gull

Common Gallinule

Green Heron

Red-shouldered Hawk

Rock Dove

Little Blue Heron

Fish Crow

Bald Eagle

Helpful Info & Resources | back to top

To the left are some of the most common birds in south Florida.Check out the additional resources below for more information on identifying birds in your area. Click on each photo to learn more about the species.

 

Additional Resources

 

  • Peterson, Roger Tory. Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Eastern and Central North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010.

  • Peterson, Roger Tory. Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2008.

  • Sibley, David Allen. The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2003.

  • Sibley, David Allen. The Sibley Guide to Birds. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000.

  • Sibley, Peterson, and others also sell field guide applications for mobile devices

 

Helpful Links

 

 

Contact Us

Contact Us | back to top

Anje Kidd joined the White Ibis project in August 2015 as a Master’s student following her completion of a Bachelor of Science at Mars Hill University. She developed an interest in studying bird movement behaviors while working at a fall migration bird banding station in Western North Carolina during her undergraduate years. Moving from tiny warblers to larger wetland waders, her graduate research involves working with the data received from GPS transmitters. Anje will use this data to understand the amount of time Ibis spend in various land use types and the movement behaviors exhibited by tagged birds throughout the year. This information will contribute to the larger project by giving us more insight into how and where Ibis live and the implications those strategies have on their health. If you have any questions about her project, she can be contacted at adk42123@uga.edu.

Maureen Murray is a postdoctoral research associate on the white ibis project. She is interested in how wildlife adjust to urban environments and the consequences of these shifts for their health and interactions with people. Maureen will be using GPS data to understand the relationships between ibis habitat use, diet, and health. If you have any questions about Maureen’s work she can be reached at mhmurray@uga.edu.

Shannon Curry's educational background is in ecological anthropology and archaeology. She worked in the field with conservation organizations including the National Park Service before returning to school to pursue a career in wildlife ecology and conservation. Shannon is interested in how human activity and anthropogenic habitat change affects wildlife health and overall ecological balance. 

 

Shannon seeks to contribute to improved resolution of conservation issues through a better understanding of human and wildlife interactions. Shannon’s research investigates White Ibis health. She is examining ibis stress response, immune function, and pathogen prevalence based on ibis use of urban habitats and access to anthropogenic food. Through the ibis banding project, Shannon hopes to learn how many ibis visit urban sites, what other species and stressors ibis encounter in urban areas, and how often ibis consume anthropogenic versus natural foods. By addressing these questions she hopes to elucidate the relationship between urban habitat use and ibis health. Shannon also researches public perceptions of wildlife in hopes of better understanding how and why people connect to and interact with wild birds. If you have any questions or comments about Shannon's project email her 
at securry@uga.edu.

Catie Welch has been working on the ibis project since the beginning. While working on her Bachelor of Science at Florida Atlantic University, she volunteered her time to collecting fecal and water samples, as well as assisting with trapping birds and data collection. When it came time for grad school, the ibis project was a natural fit for her. Her research focuses on flock movement and site fidelity to urban areas. She wants to understand how much time these birds are actually spending in urban sites and where these birds breed. Once these questions have been answered, we can understand more about how life in the urban setting is affecting their behavior and health. 


     Catie is in charge of the Ibis Band Re-sighting Project, if you see any ibises with color bands, she wants to hear about it!! Click here to learn how to report a sighting.  And if you have any additional questions about her project, feel free to email her at cwelch88@uga.edu.

Report a Sighting

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS BIRD?

Report a Sighting | back to top

Thank you for your interest in our project! If you have seen one of our banded ibises, please report your sighting to us. We have banded birds two different ways to see if there is a difference in visibility. Some have bands on the upper leg, while some have bands on the lower leg. Both are apart of our band re-sighting project so let us know if you see them! You can submit observations two ways. Please read the instructions below for submitting an ibis sighting.

 

Note: This ibis (pictured at left) has a green band on the right leg, and a blue band over a black band on the left leg. This birds' unique band combination is "Green Blue Black (GBlBk)". The green band on the right leg signifies that this bird was captured at Promenade Plaza in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. 

To Report a Sighting…

 

Email your sighting…

To report an ibis sighting to us via email, click here; a new email will open for you to fill out. If the link does not work, simply email the following information to Anje Kidd, adk42123@uga.edu.

 

Required information
Date of observation:
Color band combination (if applicable):
Location of observation:
Number of ibis present at location:

 

Additional information (if possible)
Age of observed ibis:
Characteristics of habitat at location of observation:
Behavior of ibis:
If ibis is eating food, and what it’s eating:
Other species present at location:

 

For help aging ibises, visit the "About the White Ibis" section of this page; for help identifying other bird species, visit the "Helpful Information & Resources" section of this page.

 

Submit an observation through iNaturalist…

 

Sign up for an iNaturalist account at www.inaturalist.org.

 

Click on “Projects” at the top of the website to join our White Ibis projects. Search for “Ibis Band Resighting Project” to join our project on banded ibis. Search for “Urban Ibis” to join our general ibis project.

 

You can also join other projects or make your own project.

 

Recording Your Observations

 

You can record your natural observations immediately if you have the iNaturalist mobile app. If you don’t have the app, just jot down what you see and create an observation when you get back to a computer.

 

Click “Add observations” on the iNaturalist homepage. Enter as much information as you can. You can pinpoint the exact location of your observation and you can upload photos. You can even add additional fields if you have extra information about your sighting. Make sure you save your observation when you finish!

 

You can view all of the observations you have made by clicking on “dashboard” at the top right of the webpage then clicking on “observations.”

 

Add Your Observations to Our Projects

 

If you happen to see one of our color banded ibis, please add your observation to the “Ibis Band Resighting Project” project. Make sure you include the unique color combination of the leg bands in your observation! For example, if the ibis has one silver band on the right leg and a red band on top of a blue band on the left leg, please report your sighting "Silver Red/Blue."

 

If you see White Ibis in urban, semi-urban, or agricultural areas we’d love to have you add these observations to the “Urban Ibis” project.

 

To add your observation, click on “dashboard” then click on “observations.” Click on the observation you wish to add. Then click on the “Add to project” box and add your observation to the appropriate project. You will be prompted to enter some additional information about your sighting. These additional fields are optional, but we’d love to have this extra information. To add your observation to the “Ibis Band Resighting Project” you will be required to enter the unique color combination for the bird.

 

Record Observations on Your Mobile Device

 

The iNaturalist mobile app lets you make observations in the field. You can use your current location and take pictures with your mobile device to include in the observation. You can then add your observation to our project within the app, oryou can sync the app and add your observation later from a computer.

 

Questions and Concerns? If you have questions about how to enter your observations or what information to include, contact us at cwelch88@uga.edu.

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