[2] The white-shouldered ibis was first described by Hume (1875), who originally named the species Geronticus davisoni after his bird collector William Ruxton Davison.

[3] A conspicuous neck collar comprising a bluish-white band of bare skin which is broader at the back and narrower at the front extends from the chin around to the nape at the base of the skull.

[7] The white-shouldered ibis owes its name to the clear white patch visible on the upper part of the neck and chin in some individuals.

[3] The juvenile has dull-brown plumage with a tuft of brown feathers on the bluish-white nape, a grey-brown iris, pale yellow legs and dull white feet.

[14][15] The largest known Cambodian white-shouldered ibis subpopulation resides in Western Siem Pang Important Bird Area (minimally 346 individuals).

[22] This ibis's reliance on human-mediated activity may be especially strong considering both the marked local population declines of many wild ungulates in the white-shouldered ibis's range in the past few decades and the local extinction of many other species such as the Asian elephant;[15] although wild boar may still be important contributors to creating seasonal pools through wallowing.

[23] With its highly maneuverable, penetrative downcurved bill,[15] the white-shouldered ibis is well adapted to probing into the cracks potentially harbouring concealed prey.

[20][23][6] Although amphibians appear to form the bulk of the diet, the main prey taken at a given place or time may depend on the texture of the underlying substrate.

[22] However, dry substrate appears to be most favourable, probably because of the high level of available biomass constituted by large amphibians[22] (Wright et al. 2013b).

[23] Additionally, swamp eels and crabs which are primarily aquatic and occur in saturated substrate have not been identified in white shouldered-ibis diet because these potential prey could easily evade predation by burrowing or swimming away.

[6] Different breeding seasons have been reported elsewhere in its range; with February–March in Myanmar when it still persisted here,[5] September–December in East Kalimantan,[12] and late August–December in Borneo, with copulation observed in February in this region.

[6] It builds large nests 10-25m aboveground, composed of twigs and fresh leaves, usually in emergent trees such as Koompasia excels as in Borneo.

[23] The white-shouldered ibis is considered sedentary, but some small movements of just over 5 km between roosting and foraging grounds may occur during the wet season.

[23][15][6] In the last case for example, the relatively large subpopulations in Lomphat Wildlife Sanctuary and at the unprotected section of the Mekong River could be threatened with proposed dams and encroaching human settlement.

[6] Lomphat Wildlife Sanctuary is also an example region particularly threatened by economic land concessions, through which extensive development could substantially reduce suitable habitat.

[9] Roosting of white shouldered ibises near to or within Economic Land Concessions will likely be severely affected by loss of foraging habitat and human exploitation.

[15] Alongside direct habitat loss through land development, the white-shouldered ibis's habitat could also be threatened indirectly through modern agricultural mechanization to replace traditional keeping of domestic ungulates that graze and trample on underlying vegetation and wallow in mud to maintain forest clearings and seasonal pools as important foraging ground for ibis.

[14] The white-shouldered population on the Mahakam River in East Kalimantan was severely affected by fire damage to forest during an El Nino Southern Oscillation during the mid-1990s.

[26] Alongside the primary implication of loss of suitable habitat, the fire may have also led to increased riverbank erosion due to fewer trees, decreased water clarity, and changes in water temperature patterns through fewer overhanging branches; all of which may have affected the birds’ ability to successfully forage on riverbanks and gravel beds.

[24] The only captive record for this species is for one specimen that was imported into Thailand from Cambodia in 1989, and held at the Queen's Bird Park at Ayuthhaya near Bangkok in 1990.

Given the scarcity of recorded sightings in the past few decades, the small population size and persistent habitat loss, it has been classified as Critically Endangered by the IUCN.