Welcome to Colleen’s Corner. This is a column meant for fun and some information About myself: I am a Freelance Photographer you often see me on the side of the road or in various places taking photos of different things animals, birds, places, people etc. l have lived in Lumby just over 8 years you have seen my photos in the newspaper (Lumby Valley Times) and once in awhile in the Vernon Morning Star, and the Lumby Art Gallery. Photography is my passion. Disclaimer: The information on some of my photos that I write about a lot of times come from the Internet or books I research them, hopefully the facts are as close to the truth as I can come.
Have you ever seen a bird like this? It’s very cool looking. This is called White Faced Ibis. From their long curved bill to a white pattern around their eyes. Unlike the Glossy Ibis which does not have the white marking on its face. The white faced ibis are medium sized birds with red eyes, long legs with some pink on them their body weight is about 15-18.5 oz. their body is about 18-22 inches in length, their wingspan is quite large 35.4- 36.6 inches.
The coloring on the white faced ibis wings are a metallic green with bronze tones on their maroon colored body, when you are up close you will be able to see the different colors but from a distance away the bird looks like a dark brown or black. They are usually in flocks which includes nesting in the colonies and foraging for food. When feeding they will lower their long curved bill into water, mud, and soil feeling for their prey, sometimes they will use their bill in a sweep motion in the water. Catching their prey by sight is also another way that they can find food, like finding insects on the vegetation. They like to eat earthworms, and other types of invertebrates. This flock of birds can be found hanging out in marshes, flooded fields, they really like alfalfa fields. These funny looking birds like placing odd things in their nests like lighters, shotgun shells that are empty, dolls, combs for your hair, they are quite the collectors of different things.
White faced ibis are very similar looking to the Glossy ibis including in their coloring. The two species have their breeding range in North America, and have at times mated with each other which makes it much harder to tell the difference between them.
Although the white faced ibis stays mostly in North America, the Glossy ibis can be found in Eurasia, Africa, and even in Australia.
So far the second oldest known white faced ibis was about 14 years and 6 months old.
There is another bird that looks similar but totally different, he will be appearing in a future column.
