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Glossy Ibis

Glossy Ibis

Plegadis falcinellus

Identify the Glossy Ibis by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.

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The Glossy Ibis is a slim, dark ibis with a long, down-curved bill and chestnut plumage with a bronze-green and purple gloss. It is the most widespread ibis, breeding in warm regions of Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and the Americas, and many populations migrate or disperse widely. It nests in colonies in vegetated wetlands and has recovered in parts of Europe.

Did you know?

  • Its scientific name means “little sickle”.
  • Its gloss varies with the light, so it can look black at a distance.

Voice

Call

About the species

Identification

A medium-sized, dark ibis whose plumage glistens bronze and green; it has a long, down-curved bill and long legs. In the breeding season thin pale lines border the bare face. In flight the neck and legs are outstretched and the wings lack pale markings; it differs from curlews, which are mottled brown and lack a metallic sheen, and from herons, which fly with a folded neck.

Family

Threskiornithidae

Size

Large (crow)

Colours

brown, black, green

About the habitat

Shallow fresh or brackish wetlands with dense emergent vegetation – marshes, reedbeds, flooded meadows, lagoons, rice fields and lake and river margins.

Diet

Mainly aquatic invertebrates – insects and larvae, leeches, snails, mussels, worms and crustaceans – as well as small fish, frogs and reptiles, found by probing soft mud in shallow water.

Behaviour

Feeds by wading in shallow water and probing or sweeping its bill. Highly nomadic, it disperses widely after breeding. Gregarious, it travels and roosts in flocks, often in trees, and nests in mixed colonies with herons. It flies with neck and legs outstretched, often in lines or V-formations.

Sources

Photo: Chuck Homler, Focus On Wildlife, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Glossy ibis.png

Sound: Sudipto Roy, XC129140, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://xeno-canto.org/129140

Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions, CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossy_ibis

See also