As an avid birder, I have spent a couple of exciting months in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The variety of birds if far different from the birds in Canada.
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The White Ibis is one of my favorites, with its long pink beak and legs and those wonderful blue eyes, DSC_0849it stands out.  They have white feathers with black tips on their wings.

We spent a delightful afternoon on the beach in Boca de Tomates, a tiny (population 7) village near the mouth of the Ameca river.

There were several White Ibis, but this fellow is the star in my Story. He was fishing and allowed me to approach quite close.

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He flew past me
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and landed in a tree near where I stood
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I think he was ignoring me.
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Suddenly he noticed me and flew the other way.

White Ibises are wetland birds. They use freshwater marshes, coastal estuaries, like the Ameca river, mangroves, mudflats, and swamps. They usually forage in shallow areas with less than 8 inches of water looking for insects and crustaceans and perhaps a small fish.
Both male and female help build a nest often in the mangrove trees where they have 2-5 eggs. They are social birds and gather in flocks.

They have often become a symbol for wetland conservation and restoration where ibis habitat is threatened by development and pollution.