WadersWaders Index Bar-tailed Godwit Banded Lapwing Black-fronted Dotterel Black-tailed Godwit Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) Hooded Plover Inland Dotterel Lesser Sand Plover Long-toed Stint Oriental Plover Pacific Golden Plover Pectoral Sandpiper Pied Stilt Red-kneed Dotterel Red-necked Avocet Red-necked Stint Ruff Sanderling Sharp-tailed Sandpiper Sooty Oystercatcher

A small ibis, the Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) has an olive-brown distinctive long, curved bill, with blue-grey facial skin and a bordering white line that extends around the eyes.

When viewed from a distance, the Glossy Ibis has a black appearance, although when viewed closeup, the neck has reddish-brown tinge, the body being a bronze-brown colour with a metallic iridescent sheen on the wings. The eyes, legs and feet are brown.

Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus), Alice Springs Waste Stabilisation Ponds NT
Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus), Alice Springs Waste Stabilisation Ponds NT © Dorothy Latimer

More images on Alice Springs Birds > Birds at the Ponds > Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus).


  • Scientific classification
  • Kingdom: Animalia
  • Phylum: Chordata
  • Subphylum: Vertebrata
  • Informal: Gnathostomata
  • Class: Aves
  • Order: Ciconiiformes
  • Family: Threskiornithidae
  • Subfamily: TRhreskiornithinae
  • Genus: Plegadis
  • Species: Plegadis falcinellus

Footnote & References

  1. Plegadis falcinellus (Linnaeus, 1766), Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/Plegadis falcinellus
  2. Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus), iNaturalistAU, https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/taxa/3756-Plegadis-falcinellus
  3. Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus), eBird, https://ebird.org/species/gloibi
  4. Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus), mdahlem.net, https://mdahlem.net/birds/5/glibis.php

WadersWaders Index Bar-tailed Godwit Banded Lapwing Black-fronted Dotterel Black-tailed Godwit Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) Hooded Plover Inland Dotterel Lesser Sand Plover Long-toed Stint Oriental Plover Pacific Golden Plover Pectoral Sandpiper Pied Stilt Red-kneed Dotterel Red-necked Avocet Red-necked Stint Ruff Sanderling Sharp-tailed Sandpiper Sooty Oystercatcher

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