In Brazil Scarlet Ibis Eudocimus ruber occurs mainly in the north, southeast and south. During the 1900s, there was a significant reduction in the number of records in the latter two regions of the country, but this began to change in the early 1980s, when numbers of Scarlet Ibis gradually started to increase over the years. We contextualise the history of the species in south and south-east Brazil, and discuss the causes for its apparent disappearance and reappearance in these regions. We believe that anthropogenic factors, coupled with the species' ecology, were responsible for the reduction and subsequent resurgence of Scarlet Ibis.