This is a scarlet ibis. Shhh! Don’t wake it up! They get their scarlet color from eating red crabs. They are the only red shorebird in the world. When they are juveniles, they are brown, gray, and white, with a tiny bit of red. As they grow up and eat more crabs, they turn red. They are related to the American white ibis and the bare-faced ibis. Like all ibises, they have a beak that is curved down. They live in South America and Cuba, and some people have said that they have even seen them in Florida, but this is rare. Usually you only see the American white ibis in Florida.
I saw the scarlet ibises in these pictures at Sea World in February 2011.
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Raymie, I like your Scarlet Ibis. It’s very beautiful. If you ever want to put Mr. Bubbles on your Zoo website, he says you can take his picture.
Raymie, did you know there is a famous short story called “The Scarlet Ibis”? If you want to read it you can find it online here: http://209.184.141.5/westwood/academ/depts/dpteng/l-coker/virtualenglish/englsih%20i/english%20ia/scarlet_ibis.htm
Enjoy!
Robin