Glossy Ibis
At distance, Glossy Ibises look uniformly dark, but a close look in good light reveals stunning colors: deep maroon, emerald, bronze, and violet. This long-legged, long-billed bird forages in
flocks through wetlands and wet agricultural fields, searching for insects, small fish, and seeds.
The birds are somewhat nomadic, dispersing widely after the nesting season—a tendency that has aided the species in the past 100 years as it has expanded its range from the southeastern U.S. to include much of eastern North America.
‘Glossy’ is an apt name for a creature whose plumage colour changes with the angle of the light; the dark brown iridescent feathers can reflect a purple bluish or greenish ‘gloss’.The glossy, the most adventurous of the world’s two dozen ibis species, has a nomadic streak; it has established breeding colonies in India, southeast Asia and Australia.
Birds breeding in Europe move to Africa in the Autumn but recently-fledged youngsters may disperse in other directions, travelling as far north as Iceland and Norway.
Ibises crossed the Atlantic in the 19th century and began nesting in central and north America.
Like elephant’s trunks, the bills of curlews and ibises are touch-sensitive but, despite appearances, the two species are not related. The curlew is a sandpiper, a wader, while the ibis’s closest kin are herons, spoonbills and storks.
Glossy Ibis
At distance, Glossy Ibises look uniformly dark, but a close look in good light reveals stunning colors: deep maroon, emerald, bronze, and violet. This long-legged, long-billed bird forages in
flocks through wetlands and wet agricultural fields, searching for insects, small fish, and seeds.
The birds are somewhat nomadic, dispersing widely after the nesting season—a tendency that has aided the species in the past 100 years as it has expanded its range from the southeastern U.S. to include much of eastern North America.
‘Glossy’ is an apt name for a creature whose plumage colour changes with the angle of the light; the dark brown iridescent feathers can reflect a purple bluish or greenish ‘gloss’.The glossy, the most adventurous of the world’s two dozen ibis species, has a nomadic streak; it has established breeding colonies in India, southeast Asia and Australia.
Birds breeding in Europe move to Africa in the Autumn but recently-fledged youngsters may disperse in other directions, travelling as far north as Iceland and Norway.
Ibises crossed the Atlantic in the 19th century and began nesting in central and north America.
Like elephant’s trunks, the bills of curlews and ibises are touch-sensitive but, despite appearances, the two species are not related. The curlew is a sandpiper, a wader, while the ibis’s closest kin are herons, spoonbills and storks.