Daily Archives: February 9, 2018

Caught in the act…

White Ibis, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida

There were a lot of immature White Ibis at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge while we were there for the Space Coast Birding and Nature Festival…far more than the numbers of adults. If you are familiar with White Ibis you know that the immature is a very different looking bird than the adult. The immature is speckled brown and white with more brown than white. It looks enough different so that you could be forgiven for thinking it is a different species, and it is dark enough so that you might think it would be the immature of the Glossy Ibis. It is neither of those things of course, and in time it does turn into a White Ibis. Interestingly (at least to me), this is the only bird I have ever seen in an intermediate plumage…having lost most of the brown of the immature, but not fully white yet. They must all go through it. Maybe I have just not been in Florida when it happens. Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. 1/1000th @ f4 @ ISO 100. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.