Buff-necked Ibis

Buff-necked Ibis

Theristicus caudatus

Silhouette: Robert Cooke · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability <5% · Rare
at Iguazú National Park

In 3 days <5%

34 Verified sightings at Iguazú National Park From 2019 to 2026
1,267 In all 14 parks
August 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 Iguazú National Park?

Rare

Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Buff-necked Ibis sighting in Iguazú National Park on a given day, based on 34 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 284th most-seen of the 343 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Buff-necked Ibis in Iguazú National Park?

Any time of year

In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Buff-necked Ibis in Iguazú National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.

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.

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 Iguazú National Park (34 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.

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