White-faced Ibis

While we were traveling through Hayden Valley in Yellowstone we stopped to take some pictures of the pair of cinnamon teal that were swimming around in the Yellowstone River. That was when I noticed a couple of ibis wading through the water in the flood plain next to the river. I was surprised and excited to see what I thought were glossy ibis that far north.

As it turns out, I found out later, these were actually white-faced ibis, which was another new bird for us. The white-faced ibis looks similar to the glossy ibis except for the white outline around the face, which is where it gets its name. The white-faced ibis is found in Mexico, parts of South America and the south western United States. They head north to their breeding territories in places like northern California, Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana during the summer. These ibis where searching the marshy grounds surrounding the river in search of insects to eat.