I’ve been watching this pair of birds hang out at the edge of the pond near the 7th hole on the municipal golf course for the last few weeks and after describing them for weeks as “a cross between a blackish flamingo sorta crane sorta stork kinda bird” – I finally did a little Internet sleuthing to find out that we have a pair of Glossy Ibises!
It seems that Glossy Ibises are fully migratory and very nomadic birds – so they’ve probably just stopped off here for a snack and a rest. Their bodies and necks are elongated and they have long, broad wings and long legs.
Most distinctively though are their bills, which are long and curved so they can dig into the wet ground to feed primarily on insects. I watched a hawk try to go for one of them though and I can tell you that their bills came in handy as a weapon … the hawk didn’t last through a single jab before he gave up and flew away … it was awesome.
Anyway, it seems that there are two types of Ibises here in Nevada — the Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) and the White-faced Ibis (Plegadis chihi), so now I know to keep an eye out for the latter and stop embarrassing myself with my rather creative and unnatural description of them, LOL!
