Birds and Birding's Guide to:

Watching THE STORK-LIKE BIRDS

THE IBISES (Family Ibidida)

The Ibises are medium or large sized wading birds most closely related to the Storks, but distinguished from them at once by the bill, which is rather slender, more or less cylindrical throughout, and evenly bent downward after the manner of the Curlews.

The bill is also rather soft, except at the tip, and the nostrils are slit-like, and placed in a deep, narrow groove which extends quite to the end of the bill. The legs are thick and strong, of moderate length, and the toes long, the front ones being connected by a short web, while the claws are long and slender.

The wings are rather long and pointed, and the tail, of twelve feathers, is short and square-cut at the end. As Ridgway has said,”A great diversity of form and plumage is to be seen among the various species, some being trim and graceful in their build, and others uncouth, with Vulture-like head and neck, — some plain in colors, while others are among the most brilliant of birds."

The Ibises enjoy a wide geographical distribution, although most abundant in the intertropical regions. They are also a very old group, as some three or four fossil forms have been described from the middle Tertiary of England, France, Patagonia, etc. About thirty living species are known, these being distributed among some twenty or more genera.

The New World is the richest in forms, possessing more than a third of the known species, while of the Old World species Africa possesses six or seven, Asia about eight, and Madagascar and Australia two each.

previous bird species next bird species