Aust birds    Bird names   News   1-26    Habitats    Key plants    Glossary    Plumage    Nests    Tips    Thumbnails    Gen. info    Sponsors    Photos for sale   
NON-PASSERINES     1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10     11     12     13     14 15     16     17     18     19     20     21     22     23     24     25     26     PASSERINES
Common names sorted alphabetically: A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   I   J   K   L   M   N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   W   Y  

5

Dependent Australian White Ibis being fed

(Threskiornis molucca)
Alternate name(s): "Black-necked Ibis", "Sickle-bird"; formerly "Sacred Ibis"
Size: 65-75 cm
Weight: 1.7-2.5 kg (male), 1.4-1.9 kg (female)

Back to the Australian White Ibis main page .

The sequence of photos below illustrates how a dependent (juvenile) Australian White Ibis begged for food and was then fed by one of its parents.

First the young bird adopted what looked like a submissive posture and noisily begged for food
[Narrabri Lake, NSW, April 2012]

Then the young bird started tapping the adult's bill with its bill...
[Narrabri Lake, NSW, April 2012]

... before inserting its own bill into the adult bird's
[Narrabri Lake, NSW, April 2012]

Next one could see the regurgitated load being transferred
[Narrabri Lake, NSW, April 2012]

This is the end of the transfer and the bills were then disengaged
[Narrabri Lake, NSW, April 2012]

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

Would you like to contribute photos or sound recordings to this site?
If interested, please CLICK HERE. Credits to contributors are given HERE.