Hi all, To my knowledge, no one has been able to conclusively identify the Montezuma NWR ibis as a Glossy Ibis. This is a juvenile bird, and my understanding is that there is complete overlap in traits on most juvenile Plegadis ibis. If you start to see red in the face or red eye, you can start thinking White-faced, but I don't think the reverse is true. Many juvenile White-faced Ibis show the limited white over the facial skin that is considered one of the "classic" Glossy Ibis field marks. While this can work on non-breeding adults, I don't think it works on juveniles.
I strongly suspect this is a Glossy Ibis too, but I'm just not certain how to be positive of this. If someone has more current ideas on identifying juvenile Plegadis ibis, I'd be very interested in hearing hearing this. Here are a selection of White-faced Ibis that show "Glossyesque" markings bordering the facial skin. Note several of these you can start to see the red eye and facial skin, but this doesn't always develop until later in the year. http://www.flickr.com/photos/soaringfalcon/4989348460/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/deinandra/2092875732/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/66504...@n00/4338789879/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimscarff/4513744288/ Thanks, Chris Wood Ithaca, New York -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
