-Sally Siko

Had an excellent time in Cape May New Jersey and was pleased to see a ton of birds in the area.
One of my favorite species finally gave me a good opportunity for photos, the Glossy Ibis.
Though we’ve got Glossy’s down here in NC, I’ve never managed to capture a good photograph of one until now.
It was thrilling to get to see these two up close as they waded through the shallow waters of the marsh at Cape May Meadows.

Here in North Carolina, the history of the Glossy Ibis tracks opposite of that of the more commonly found White Ibis.
A relatively new breeder to the state (first nest reports appeared in the 1940s) the numbers of Glossy Ibises have increased, becoming more widespread all the way through the 1970’s.
Yet unlike the White Ibis, their numbers have noticeably decreased in recent decades.
Part of the reason is that these lovely brown iridescent colored birds are generally pegged as the “lowest man on the totem pole” in terms of choice nesting sites in multi-species colonies of birds.
This means that they can get crowded out of colonies if the numbers of other species (White Ibis, Egrets and Herons) increase or the availability of nesting sites declines due to habitat loss.
Interestingly though, the decline of Glossy Ibises in North Carolina may also partly be attributed to a shift northward in the breeding population. Today their range has expanded to New York, New Jersey and all the way up into New England in recent decades which is pretty neat!

I am looking forward to returning to Cape May NJ to lead tours next spring!
If you’d like to join me to catch all of the migrating bird action, check out the link below.

Photos by @sally_siko of @bestlife_birding captured on my mighty mirrorless monster, the @canonusa #R5