Theristicus caudatus
Silhouette: Robert Cooke · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
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...
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Emas National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Serra da Canastra National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 4 | El Impenetrable National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 5 | Madidi National Park | 🇧🇴 Bolivia | |
| 6 | Sierra de la Macarena National Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 7 | Chapada dos Guimarães National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 8 | Amboró National Park | 🇧🇴 Bolivia | |
| 9 | Iberá National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 10 | Serra dos Órgãos National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 11 | Itatiaia National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 12 | Iguaçu National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 13 | Los Nevados National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 14 | Iguazú National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 15 | Farallones de Cali National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Goiânia | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Campo Grande | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Curitiba | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 4 | Brasilia | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 5 | Cali | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 6 | Santa Cruz de la Sierra | 🇧🇴 Bolivia | |
| 7 | Campinas | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 8 | Cordoba | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 9 | Belo Horizonte | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 10 | São Paulo | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Parque das Aves | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Parc des oiseaux | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 3 | Zoo de Doué | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Zoological Garden of Belo Horizonte | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 5 | Zoológico de Brasília | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 6 | São Paulo Zoo | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 7 | Temaikén | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 8 | Cologne Zoological Garden | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 9 | London Zoo | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 10 | Zoo das Aves | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 11 | Aviario Nacional de Colombia | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 12 | Zoológico de Fauna Sudamericana | 🇧🇴 Bolivia | |
| 13 | Parque de la Conservación | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 14 | Cali Zoo | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 15 | Cologne Zoo Aquarium | 🇩🇪 Germany |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Buff-necked Ibis sighting in Madidi National Park on a given day, based on 12 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 139th most-seen of the 239 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April and August
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Buff-necked Ibis in Madidi National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January, May, July and November, the lowest months. March and December have too few records to rate.
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.
5th of 15
Of the 15 parks where we can rate Buff-necked Ibis sightings, Madidi National Park ranks 5th at about 10%. The best odds are in Emas National Park (Brazil, about 60%), Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas (Brazil, about 30%) and Serra da Canastra National Park (Brazil, about 30%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Buff-necked Ibis is recorded against all the birds logged in Madidi National Park (12 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.
