WHITE IBIS (Eudocimus albus) NESTING IN THE BAHAMAS

摘要

The nesting range of the White Ibis (Eudocimus albus) is known to encompass the southern coasts of North, Central and South America, from Baja California to northwestern Peru and from Virginia to French Guiana (AOU 1998). Within this range, it is particularly widespread and locally abundant in the southeastern United States, where it has expanded its range northward to North Carolina and Virginia within the past half century (Kushlan and Bildstein 1992). In southern Florida, it was historically the most abundant wading bird and, with the exception of the Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis), remains so today (Kushlan and Bildstein 1992, Stevenson and Anderson 1994). In the Caribbean, it nests on Cuba, Jamaica, and Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles but is considered to be accidental, occasional, or a non-breeding resident elsewhere in the region (Raffaele et al. 1998). In The Bahamas, it has been considered to be a non-breeding resident by Raffaele et al. (1998) and a winter resident by White (1998). Previous to the inventory reported on in this paper, it has not been known to nest in The Bahamas. Our initial nesting record was noted in Hallett (2006). In this paper, I document the nesting range expansion of the White Ibis into The Bahamas, describing the first and second known instances of nesting in that country.