Tuesday, February 11, 2025

GLOSSY IBIS


511*                 GLOSSY IBIS                  Plegadis falcinellus

USA                    19

The glossy ibis is a water bird in the order Pelecaniformes and the ibis and spoonbill family Threskiornithidae. The scientific name derives from Ancient Greek plegados and Latin, falcis, both meaning "sickle" and referring to the distinctive shape of the bill. This is the most widespread ibis species, breeding in scattered sites in warm regions of Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Atlantic and Caribbean regions of the Americas.











AMERICAN WHITE IBIS



1369                    AMERICAN WHITE IBIS                    Eudocimus albus

USA          18

The American white ibis is a species of bird in the ibis family, Threskiornithidae. It is found from the southern half of the US East Coast (from southern New Jersey, Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia), along the Gulf Coast states (Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas) and south through most of the Caribbean coastal regions of Central America. 

Their diet consists primarily of small aquatic prey, such as insects and small fishes. Crayfish are its preferred food in most regions, but it can adjust its diet according to the habitat and prey abundance. Its main foraging behaviour is probing with its beak at the bottom of shallow water to feel for and capture its prey. It does not see the prey.




BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON



864*            BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON               Nycticorax nycticorax  

USA            17

The black-crowned night heron, commonly shortened to just night heron in Eurasia, is a medium-sized heron found throughout a large part of the world, including parts of Europe, Asia, and North and South America. In Australasia it is replaced by the closely related Nankeen night heron (N. caledonicus), with which it has hybridised in the area of contact.





CATTLE EGRET


 

  (*216)                  CATTLE EGRET           Bubulus ibis   

USA            15

The cattle egret  is a cosmopolitan clade of heron in the genus Ardea found in the tropics, subtropics, and warm-temperate zones. According to the IOC bird list, it contains two species, the western cattle egret and the eastern cattle egret, although some authorities regard them as a single species. Despite the similarities in plumage to the egrets of the genus Egretta, it actually belongs to the genus Ardea. Originally native to parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe, it has undergone a rapid expansion in its distribution and successfully colonised much of the rest of the world in the last century.