Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Ibis

 American White Ibis
 The ibises are a group of wading birds that have long down-curved beaks. They use their unique beaks to probe mud along the shoreline and shallows of wetlands looking for prey, usually crustaceans. Ibises often feed and nest mixed in with other wading birds such as herons and egrets.
White-faced Ibis
The ibis have been around for a long time. There are references to the ibis going back to Greek and Roman times. There are 28 different species of ibis, around the world, that are divided into 12 different genus. Here in North America we have 3 native species, the American white ibis (top photo), the white-faced ibis (above), and the glossy ibis, which looks similar to the white-faced with out white on the face.White and glossy ibis are mainly found along the Atlantic and Gulf Coast. The white-faced breeds on inland waterways in the west central United States and winters in Mexico, Central and South America. I photographed the white ibis in south Texas and the white-faced in Montana.



21 comments:

Roger Owen Green said...

The ibis is an INTERESTING-looking creature!
ROG, ABC Wednesday team

i stora drag said...

Very nice photos!
The last one I like much!
Greetings Pia in Sweden

caite said...

I especially love the shore birds...in fact I will have a few up for WW later today.

Findlay Wilde said...

I wrote my last school project on the Northern Bald Ibis and really wanted to go and see them in Turkey. These Ibis look much more handsome than the Northern Bald Ibis though. From Findlay

Unknown said...

Such an elegant looking bird! Love your second capture!

Neil said...

The Ibis look nice and clean beautiful photos.

mick said...

Great photos - especially the in-flight one.

TexWisGirl said...

the white-faced (and glossy) are so impressively decorated!

Carole M. said...

beautiful photographs and that second shot is my favourite

FAB said...

Super shots.

Melissa said...

Love ibis! I actually added the last of the three, the glossy ibis, to my life list just this summer during a visit to Florida, and I only got the white ibis in Texas during a press trip. Glossy ibis we have in abundance in Utah!

Ann said...

Such an interesting bird. Their beaks are very different looking.
Ann

Gattina said...

Beautiful birds !
Gattina
ABC Team

HansHB said...

Great serie of shots, a lot to see! Interesting to read!
Happy WBW to you!

Linda said...

I have not seen the white-faced before..what a great photo of the bird in flight!

Mary Howell Cromer said...

What great images of the Ibis. I saw some 2 years ago in North Dakota, really very cool birds~

Maurizio Riccio said...

Often I have the white ibises landing in my front yard. They prod around my lawn with their long beaks for a few minutes than move on. (I live in south florida)

Susie Kline said...

Love the in-flight shot!

Anni said...

That glossy ibis, if I spotted one, I would be so thrilled!!!! Excellent image of it too.

Silent Silhouettes

Pat said...

Terrific captures!

Stewart M said...

Great shots of the ibis - we get two species down here on regular basis.

Thanks for linking to WBW - and sorry for late reply, I was in Dubai all last week and work rather took over my life!

Cheers - Stewart M - Australia