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Texas Threatened Bird
The White-faced Ibis is known as Morito Cariblanco in Spanish and Ibis à face blanche and French.
©Juliet Whitsett |Social: @juliet_whitsett_art
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"The White-faced Ibis is a prime example of our tendency to take certain birds for granted
because of their seeming abundance until our eyes open to the shock of not seeing as many of
them as we used to.
We’ve become accustomed to seeing crowds of White-faced Ibises along coastal marshes,
wildlife refuges, state parks, and prairie wetlands. The birds stand two feet tall while strutting
on long, spindly legs and probing the mud with peculiarly long, curved beaks.
The lanky birds are hardly show-stoppers with dark, chestnut-colored plumage and bone-
colored beaks and legs. In breeding plumage, the legs and eyes have a reddish hue, and the
wings become iridescent bronze with a rosy cast.
Their “white-faced” moniker derives from a white line as though carefully drawn by an artist to
encircle and accent the red facial skin behind the eye, over the beak, and under the chin. But
the modish white line fades in winter plumage.
We’ve taken White-faced Ibises for granted while turning a blind eye to the runaway
transformation of coastal marshes into beach houses, crowded coastal towns, and suburban
mini-cities supplanting age-old prairie wetlands. The ibises have become bereft of breeding
grounds.
Now, our eyes must open to the reality that Texas has designated the White-faced Ibis a
threatened species as the Federal Government considers the ominous label of endangered
species."
Information generously provided by:
Gary Clark, author of Book of Texas Birds, with photography by Kathy Adams Clark (Texas A&M University Press.)
COLOR PALETTE SAMPLED FROM IMAGES OF THE WHITE-FACED IBIS
IMAGE:
Becky Matsubara from El Sobrante, California, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
RANGE:
Year-roundBreedingMigrationNonbreeding Range map provided by Birds of the World
BIODIVERSITY OF TEXAS SERIES:
With roughly ~150 threatened and ~75 endangered species in Texas alone, artist Juliet Whitsett has been learning about and sharing the importance of biodiversity. Through the process of developing species-derived color palettes sampled from crowd-sourced images, Whitsett creates original artworks that draw inspiration from these distinctive palettes, as well as the lives and forms of the rarest and most at-risk. Collaborating closely with scientists and leading experts, she continually seeks to deepen her understanding of these species, contributing to both environmental education and conservation.
SOURCES:
Communication with
Gary Clark, author of Book of Texas Birds, with photography by Kathy Adams Clark (Texas A&M University Press.)
Gary Clark, author of Book of Texas Birds, with photography by Kathy Adams Clark (Texas A&M University Press.)
Cornell Lab All About Birds https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/White-faced_Ib...
The Texas Breeding Bird Atlas
https://txtbba.tamu.edu/