Glossy Ibis Plegadis falcinellus 彩鹮
Category I. Accidental in spring.
IDENTIFICATION
Mar. 2019, Michelle and Peter Wong.
48-66 cm. Medium large wading bird with long decurved bill and legs. Appears all dark at some distance, but dark purple-brown at close range with a green gloss on the wings. First-years are duller brown on head and neck and paler below.
VOCALISATIONS
Largely confined to the nesting site.
DISTRIBUTION & HABITAT PREFERENCE
All records have occurred at wetlands in the northwest New Territories, especially at Mai Po NR.
OCCURRENCE
There are five records in the period from 20 March to 15 June.
1978: one at Mai Po NR on 21 April.
1994: one at Mai Po NR during 1-2 May.
2019: two at Mai Po NR on 20 March and then Long Valley, Nam Sang Wai and Tai Sang Wai to 24 April.
2020: one in the Lut Chau and Mai Po NR area from 9 April to 15 June.
2021: four at Mai Po NR on 30 March.
BEHAVIOUR, FORAGING & DIET
No observations.
RANGE & SYSTEMATICS
Monotypic. Discontinuous distribution in southeast U.S.A and the Caribbean, south and southeast Europe, Central Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, the Philippines, eastern Indonesia and Australia (Davis and Kricher 2020). In China occasional records across much of the country, mainly Yunnan and east coast areas (Liu and Chen 2020).
CONSERVATION STATUS
IUCN: Least Concern. Population trend decreasing.
Davis Jr., W. E. and J. C. Kricher (2020). Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.gloibi.01
Liu, Y. and Y. H. Chen (eds) (2020). The CNG Field Guide to the Birds of China (in Chinese). Hunan Science and Technology Publication House, Changsha.
