Back in January I came across a flock of juvenile American white ibis (Eudocimus albus) hunting insects and worms on the lawn of one of our local churches. That flock was made up entirely of birds less than four years of age, as evidenced by their various amounts of brown feathering. I had hoped to spot a couple of adults in the group, but none were there. I’ve been hoping to see and photograph some adults ever since. Well, last week it happened. A small group of adults decided to stop by the yard outside our office and clean up all the bugs there. My boss actually noticed them and called me out so I could get some shots. They seemed pretty unconcerned by my presence and allowed me to get pretty close to them. I took quite a few photos and was still shooting when they suddenly all decided to fly off. I hadn’t moved, so I’m not sure why they left. Fortunately, I already had some good photos. Ibis are born brown and with straight bills and blue eyes. The bills begin to curve within their first fourteen days of life, before they ever leave the nest, but they aren’t sexually mature and fully white (actually the wing tips are black) until they are four years old. The eyes change slowly over time from blue to yellow. With each molt, they lose more and more of their brown feathers. All of that makes it fairly easy to determine their approximate age at the beginning of their lives.