Glossy Ibis

Image by U.S. Fish and WIldlife Service Southeast Region, CC BY 2.0

Physical: The Glossy Ibis grows up to 25 inches in length.  Adults have a dark, glossy chestnut body with iridescent green color on the wings. They have a long, slender, sickle-shaped bill.

Habitat: P. falcinellus lives in fresh and brackish marshes, swamps, and estuaries.  They range from Maine to Florida, wintering mainly south of the Carolinas.

Feeding: The Glossy Ibis uses it beak to probe shallow water and marshes for food, mainly crayfish, fiddler crabs, insects, and occasionally snakes.

Breeding: Glossy Ibis breed from March through late May, tending to nest in colonies with herons.  They deposit 3-4 pale blue-green eggs in a stick nest in a bush or a tree, rarely placing their nest on the ground.  The male usually incubates the eggs during part of the day and the female at night.  The eggs hatch in about 3 weeks. Both parents feed the young by regurgitation.  P. falcinellus breed near the coast from Maine to Florida and Texas.