BirdBrain Academy

Ibises and Spoonbills · Threskiornithidae

White Ibis sounds

Eudocimus albus

The American white ibis is a medium-sized white wading bird with black wingtips, red-orange bill and legs, and a coastal range.

Learn bird sounds freeMore White Ibis recordings
White Ibis
Photo: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Listen to the White Ibis

Each recording below is a short excerpt with its spectrogram, a picture of the sound. Time runs left to right and higher pitches sit higher up. Play each one, then look for the same shape in the next. Different recordings of the same bird help you learn the bird, not one clip.

Call · recording 1 Spectrogram of a White Ibis call: time runs left to right and pitch rises upward

Recorded by James Ray, Collins St at Botany Rd (near Beaconsfield), Council of the City of Sydney, New South Wales, 2020-08-30. XC591140 on xeno-canto, CC BY-SA 4.0. Five-second excerpt.

Call · recording 2 Spectrogram of a White Ibis call: time runs left to right and pitch rises upward

Recorded by James Ray, Collins St at Botany Rd (near Beaconsfield), Council of the City of Sydney, New South Wales, 2020-08-30. XC591140 on xeno-canto, CC BY-SA 4.0. Five-second excerpt.

Call · recording 3 Spectrogram of a White Ibis call: time runs left to right and pitch rises upward

Recorded by James Ray, Collins St at Botany Rd (near Beaconsfield), Council of the City of Sydney, New South Wales, 2020-08-30. XC591140 on xeno-canto, CC BY-SA 4.0. Five-second excerpt.

What to listen for

The American white ibis gives a honking main call used in flight, courtship, or when disturbed. It also gives a muted call while foraging and a high-pitched begging call as a nestling.

Many listeners write its call as “urnk, urnk”. Treat a written sound as a memory aid; individual birds and regions vary.

What it looks like

Adults have distinctive white plumage, pink facial skin, black wingtips usually visible only in flight, and a long downcurved red-orange bill. They are moderately large, compact wading birds, with males larger and heavier than females.

Where to find it

The White Ibis favors shallow coastal marshes, wetlands, mangrove swamps, muddy pools, mudflats, wet lawns, ponds, and flooded fields. It forages by slowly wading and probing shallow water with its long bill to feel for prey.

BirdBrain regions that include this bird

  • Australia
  • Caribbean
  • Central America
  • Florida
  • Mexico
  • Mid-Atlantic
  • Northern South America
  • Plains
  • Polynesia
  • Southeast
  • Southwest
  • Texas

Did you know?

  • More than 30,000 American white ibises have been counted in a single breeding colony in Florida.
  • They often fly with neck and legs outstretched in long loose lines or V formations.
  • Large breeding colonies of ten thousand birds or more can gather and vanish within one or two breeding seasons.

Learn the White Ibis by ear

BirdBrain Academy teaches bird sounds with side-by-side listening and quizzes that use different recordings, so you learn the bird rather than one clip. Start with six free lessons, no signup needed. On your phone, Sound ID can name the birds singing around you.

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Related birds

Species notes are adapted from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and checked for BirdBrain. Recordings come from xeno-canto under the licenses shown with each one. Photo: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Identification guidance is educational; birds vary, so confirm unusual sightings with local experts or eBird.