Tag Archives: glossy ibis

Birding trips at Cape May New Jersey

A Glossy Ibis encounter in Cape May NJ

-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.

Birding Tours at Cape May, NJ


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

Birding Trips and Tours North Carolina, Field Notes, The Adventures of your bird watching Admin

Juvenile shore bird ID in the OBX

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Just a couple of teenagers hanging out around the pond. Here is a White Ibis on the left and a Little Blue Heron on the right. I photographed them last week at the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. They hunted together for about 10 minutes, never more than a few feet apart from one another. You may be asking why this particular bird is called a “little blue heron” when he’s clearly not blue. The color doesn’t fit does it? Well the reason is that this is actually a juvenile Little Blue Heron. The young ones are dressed entirely in white plumage during their first year, often showing splotches of gray-blue by their first spring The White Ibis? He’s brown. That makes no sense lol! Thats because this is a juvenile White Ibis. He’s covered in a mottled brown and tan feather pattern. From a distance it’s easy to mistake a juvenile White Ibis like this little one for a Glossy Ibis. The main thing to look for is that a Glossy Ibis lacks the white patch on the back (best seen during flight) and belly is entirely dark colored, not white or patchy tan. Swipe through the last two photos to see the adult White Ibis and an adult Glossy Ibis for comparison 🙂 Adult White Ibis’s are white birds with pink bills and legs. They’ve got Carolina Blue eyes and black tips on their wing feathers. While viewing from far away or in poor lighting conditions, the adult Glossy Ibis appears to be dressed in all black but if your able to get a closer look at one, you’ll see that they are actually a beautiful reddish-brown color with shiny iridescent bottle-green wings. Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the fabulous full frame SLR, the @canonusa #5Ds

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