Buff-necked Ibis

Buff-necked Ibis

Theristicus caudatus

Silhouette: Robert Cooke · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability ~10% · With luck
at Cali

In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%

270 Verified sightings at Cali
1,267 In all 14 parks From 2019 to 2026
December Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Buff-necked Ibis

The buff-necked ibis (Theristicus caudatus), also known as the white-throated ibis, is a fairly large ibis found widely in open habitats of eastern and northern South America. It formerly included the similar black-faced ibis as a subspecies, but that species is almost entirely restricted to colder parts of South America, has a buff (not dark grey) lower chest, and lacks the contrasting large white wing-patches.

The buff-necked ibis was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1781 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux based on a specimen collected in Cayenne, French Guiana. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Scolopax caudatus in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées. The buff-necked ibis is now placed in the genus Theristicus that was erected by the German naturalist Johann Georg Wagler... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Duet0:10

Brazil · 2026

© JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA · XC1163737 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Call0:17

Brazil · 2025

© Fabrício Grigolin · XC1062328 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Song0:18

Brazil · 2025

© Joost van Bruggen · XC1050455 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Emas National Park 🇧🇷 Brazil
~60%
2 Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas 🇧🇷 Brazil
~30%
3 Serra da Canastra National Park 🇧🇷 Brazil
~30%
4 El Impenetrable National Park 🇦🇷 Argentina
~30%
5 Sierra de la Macarena National Park 🇨🇴 Colombia
<5%
6 Chapada dos Guimarães National Park 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%
7 Amboró National Park 🇧🇴 Bolivia
<5%
8 Iberá National Park 🇦🇷 Argentina
<5%
9 Serra dos Órgãos National Park 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%
10 Itatiaia National Park 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%
11 Iguaçu National Park 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%
12 Los Nevados National Natural Park 🇨🇴 Colombia
<5%
13 Iguazú National Park 🇦🇷 Argentina
<5%
14 Farallones de Cali National Natural Park 🇨🇴 Colombia
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Goiânia 🇧🇷 Brazil
~50%
2 Campo Grande 🇧🇷 Brazil
~40%
3 Curitiba 🇧🇷 Brazil
~30%
4 Brasilia 🇧🇷 Brazil
~20%
5 Cali 🇨🇴 Colombia
~10%
6 Santa Cruz de la Sierra 🇧🇴 Bolivia
~10%
7 Campinas 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%
8 Cordoba 🇦🇷 Argentina
<5%
9 Belo Horizonte 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%
10 São Paulo 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%

Zoos & Centres Where Found

# Zoo / Centre Country
1 Parque das Aves 🇧🇷 Brazil In captivity
2 Parc des oiseaux 🇫🇷 France In captivity
3 Zoo de Doué 🇫🇷 France In captivity
4 Zoological Garden of Belo Horizonte 🇧🇷 Brazil In captivity
5 Zoológico de Brasília 🇧🇷 Brazil In captivity
6 São Paulo Zoo 🇧🇷 Brazil In captivity
7 Temaikén 🇦🇷 Argentina In captivity
8 Cologne Zoological Garden 🇩🇪 Germany In captivity
9 London Zoo 🇬🇧 United Kingdom In captivity
10 Zoo das Aves 🇧🇷 Brazil In captivity
11 Aviario Nacional de Colombia 🇨🇴 Colombia In captivity
12 Zoológico de Fauna Sudamericana 🇧🇴 Bolivia In captivity
13 Parque de la Conservación 🇨🇴 Colombia In captivity
14 Cali Zoo 🇨🇴 Colombia In captivity
15 Cologne Zoo Aquarium 🇩🇪 Germany In captivity

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Buff-necked Ibis in Cali?

With luck

About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Buff-necked Ibis sighting in Cali on a given day, based on 270 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 59th most-seen of the 226 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Buff-necked Ibis in Cali?

September–October and December

In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Buff-necked Ibis in Cali on a given day, against under 5% in July, the lowest month.

What time of day is best to see a Buff-necked Ibis?

Between 10 am and 1 pm

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Buff-necked Ibis sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Is Cali the best place to see a Buff-necked Ibis?

5th of 11

Of the 11 cities where we can rate Buff-necked Ibis sightings, Cali ranks 5th at about 10%. The best odds are in Goiânia (Brazil, about 50%), Campo Grande (Brazil, about 40%) and Curitiba (Brazil, about 30%).

Where does the Buff-necked Ibis sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Buff-necked Ibis is recorded against all the birds logged in Cali (270 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.

← Back to Cali