Glossy
Ibis in Imperial County CA
July
09, 2003
Guide: Bob Miller
Update! It was
brought to my attention that this bird is a possible hybrid Glossy/White-faced
Ibis. There is a bit of red in the face and just around the
eye. The eye appears browner than a typical White-faced Ibis but
does have a reddish tint. My experience with Glossy Ibis is
limited so I can not offer much more than these photographs! Added
to the bottom right of this page are two more photos. Digital pics are
resized down to fit on web pages and to load in a decent amount of time.
These newly added pictures are cropped out of the originals so they are
the actual size of that portion of the original. One is a composite and
has a close-up of the actual White-faced Ibis that is beside the Glossy
in the two pics below.
Click on
thumbnail pictures for full-sized shots.
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The thin pale line
around the face has a bluish tint that does not show well in these pics.
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The pale line does not
extend behind the eye. The subtly different color of the bill is noticeable
from the side.
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Brownish eye.
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A Glossy Ibis was found by Guy McCaskie and Jon L. Dunn this
morning, July 09, near the intersection of Sinclair and English Roads near
Calipatria CA. Lea Anne and I went out about 1830 and were
able to photograph this bird. The setting sun made for
spectacular colors on all of the birds present. |
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A- Comparison Glossy
on right
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Comparison Glossy
on right
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| The Glossy Ibis spent most of the time preening and separated
from the other birds while we were there. The field had finished
watering so most of these birds will probably be in a different
location tomorrow. We did find another similar field about two
miles south of Sinclair on English Road which might run water for
part of the day tomorrow and would be a good place to start
looking if you try for this bird.
Aside from the Ibis, the most unusual bird in the field, for
me, was this Yellow-footed Gull. It stood it's ground with all of
the competition although it appeared to be learning a "new
game" as it slowly and methodically moved along and starred at the ground.
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Yellow-Footed Gull
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| The photos below are of the field with the Glossy
Ibis in it, though just a black spot. I include these to give
an idea of what is possible with "digiscoping". All of
the above pictures were taken through a Kowa spotting scope with a
Nikon digital camera while standing in the same spot as the pics
below. The distance to the bird was pretty extreme considering it was about 110
degrees and the heat waves were rolling! |
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Composite comparison
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Crop from A at left
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