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.

GLOSSY IBIS

 

Photographed at Pipiroa, North Island, New Zealand, February 2024

(*511)                     GLOSSY IBIS                    Plegadis falcinellus 

NEW ZEALAND                   134

Rae Australian vagrant. Found in the margins of freshwater lakes and swamps, and damp pastures. Occasionally irruptions into New Zealand. A pair bred at Wainono Lagoon, South Canterbury in 2014/15.

GLOSSY IBIS

Photographed at Deniliquin, February 2015

511         GLOSSY IBIS         Plegadis falcinellus

Australia           (352)

48-61 cm, wingspan c. 90 cm. Ranges over most of Australia, including Tasmania, except driest e. of SA, se. NT and se. and central e. of WA. Habitat well-vegetated wetlands, wet pastures, rice fields, floodwaters, floodplains, brackish or occasionally saline wetlands, mangroves, mudflats, occasionally dry grasslands.