Australian White Ibis

Threskiornis molucca· 鹮科(7 photos)

Photographed In:

Locations:

Species Profile

IOC World Bird List

65-76 cm; span to 1.25 m. White with bare black head and ibis-bill; black tips to flight feathers.

Other names: Sacred Ibis, Australian Ibis, Australian Sacred Ibis
Breeding: pink marks on black neck, yellowish breast plumes, bare scarlet skin on underwing; lacelike wing plumes over yellowish white tail. Female smaller; bill shorter. Immature: bill shorter, straighter; feathered black on head and neck; no wing plumes. Singles to large flocks: feeds in pastures, freshwater wetlands, tidal areas; plumage often soiled. Flies in undulating lines or Vs with quick wingbeats and glides, often with Straw-neckeds; flocks wheel high.
Voice: harsh barks, shouts.
Habitat: freshwater wetlands, irrigated areas; margins of dams, floodplains, brackish and saline wetlands, tidal mudflats; pastures, lawns, orchards, garbage tips, public gardens.
Breeding: June-Dec., s. Aust.; Sept.-April n. NSW-s. Q.
Nest: compact shallow cup of sticks, reeds, etc.; in colonies, some large, over water in dense trees; on island; in trampled reeds, cumbungi, lignum, mangroves; artificial structures in town environs.
Eggs: 2-4; white, dirty.
Range & Status: e., se. and n. Aust.; recent expansion to Tas. and sw. WA. Most breed in Murrumbidgee-Murray Valley (NSW), Vic. and se. SA. Some colonies to 10,000+: smaller in n. Aust. Has benefited from establishment of pastures, farm dams. Sedentary; dispersive. Also NG. Vagrant NZ.