Hadeda Ibis
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Hadeda Bostrychia hagedash Kruger National Park |
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Description - The Hadeda Ibis is a large bird with short legs. They are greyish or grey-brown birds with blackish wing and tail feathers, but in certain lighting it has a metallic purple-green colour on its wings. The long, blackish down-curved bill has a red line on top of the upper bill. The face is grey, with a white stripe running from the base of the bill to below and behind the eye. The legs and feet are grey, with a line of red scales running down the front of the legs and the tops of the toes. In flight, the feet don’t project beyond the tail. The broad and rounded wings flap deeply.
Distribution - Tropical Africa except in the drier areas of the south-west of the continent.
Habitat - Aquatic birds are found around swamps, marshes, flooded areas, rivers with a margin of trees, edges of lakes and pastureland, but also in gardens, sports fields and parks in the urban areas.
Biological - They are particularly vocal at dawn and dusk on the way from and to their overnight roosts. They usually occur in pairs or small groups, but in the non-breeding season often gather in larger numbers to feed, or at roost sites, where it can be very noisy.
According to reseach carried out by Brink and van der Berg the iridescence of the feathers is mainly based on a relatively thick but uniform keratin outer layer on the feather barbules, keratin exhibiting an anomalous dispersion in the green, blue and near UV.
Size 76-89 cm.
Diet - The Hadeda Ibis feeds on fish, insects, spiders, snails, crustaceans, amphibians, worms, crustaceans, small reptiles, and sometimes scavenges for carrion. Feeding is by touch rather than sight; prey is located by probing the sensitive bill into soft ground.
Breeding - They nest in isolation, unlike other ibis species, mainly in late winter and early summer. Males display then eventually choose a mate. The pair then engages in mutual bowing and display preening. The male usually gathers nest materials, which it ritually offers to its mate. The nest is a platform of sticks, lined with grass and lichens; many eggs and young fall from the flimsily constructed nest. Both sexes incubate the 2-6 eggs and feed the young. The nesting cycle lasts 2-3 months.
Voice - Their call is a loud, harsh Haa-Haa-Haa or Haa-Daa-Daa usually given on take off or in flight. They are particularly noisy at dawn and dusk on the way to or from their overnight roosts.
Other names - D Hagedasch - ES Ibis Hadada - F Ibis hagedash, ibis métallique - IT Ibis hadada - JP ハダダトキ - NL Hadada-ibis, Hadeda ibis - RU Великолепный ибис - S Hadadaibis - Swahili kwarara hijani - UK Hadada ibis, Hadeda Ibis
Websites
Kenya Birds
San Francisco Zoo
Trek Nature
Books
Ian Sinclair - A photographic guide to birds of Southern Africa. Struik Publ. ISBN 1-86872-553-7
Ian Sinclair et al. - Sasol birds of Southern Africa. Struik Publ. ISBN 1-86872-033-0
Kenneth Newman - Newman se voëls van Suider-Afrika. SAPPI. ISBN 1-868-12-758-3