White-faced Ibis
Plegadis chihi
eBird gives this description of the White-faced Ibis: Long decurved bill. Dark overall with iridescent green and reddish tones on adults. Broad white border to reddish face and red eyes. Found mainly in shallow wetlands of the western U.S. Best distinguished from Glossy Ibis by range and facial pattern. Also note more subtle features: reddish legs and paler bronzy tones to wings. All About Birds adds this additional descriptive information for the White-faced Ibis: The handsome White-faced Ibis shimmers with purple, green, and bronze plumage. Breeding adults add to this a ruby-red eye surrounded by a sharp white mask, and pink legs. Flocks of this long-legged bird forage in marshes across large parts of the American West, where wetlands are very scarce and often ephemeral. They probe their long, curving bills into moist soil, searching for earthworms and other invertebrates, typically at the edges of marshes or in wet farm fields.
I saw a small group of nonbreeding/immature White-faced Ibis at Dowitcher Pond in Estero Llano Grande State Park on the early afternoon of January 6, 2021. I was quite tired from my long walk that day and should have taken more time to photograph these beautiful birds.
“Cool Facts” About the White-faced Ibis From All About Birds…
- Many species of birds place found objects in their nests (bowerbirds take this odd behavior to the extreme). White-faced Ibises sometimes incorporate human-made objects they’ve found, including cigarette lighters, empty shotgun shells, plastic dolls, and hair combs.
- White-faced and Glossy Ibises are similar species: both dark purple-metallic and both members of the genus Plegadis. Both species have expanded their breeding ranges in North America over recent decades. This has led to Glossy Ibis turning up in White-faced Ibis colonies, and vice-versa, and to many instances of hybridization, making it even more complicated to tell the two species apart definitively.
- White-faced Ibises occur only in the Americas, but Glossy Ibises occur on the East Coast as well as across Eurasia, Africa, and Australia. It’s thought that White-faced Ibis evolved following an early colonization of the Americas by the Glossy Ibis.
- The oldest recorded White-faced Ibis was banded in Oregon and was at least 12 years, 3 months old when it was found sick in California. It recovered and was released.