Sunday, September 21, 2014

White-Faced Ibis

The white-faced ibis is one of 28 species of ibis. I've previously done posts on three other species of ibis: the African sacred ibis, the American white ibis and the hadada ibis. The white-faced ibis actually looks quite a bit like the hadada ibis, but has a completely different range. It breeds in the western U.S. south through Mexico and from southeastern Brazil and southeastern Bolivia to central Argentina and along the coast of Chile. Its winter range is about the same, but only as far north as southern California and Louisiana. 
White-faced ibis near Alamosa, Colorado.
Non-breeding adults have reddish-brown bodies and shiny bottle-green wings, a bluish bare face and no bordering feathers. Breeding adults have a pink bare face bordered with white feathers, a gray bill and brighter colored, redder legs. 
I saw this ibis outside Alamosa, Colorado, in a field flooded with rain water, near the Rio Grande River. 

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