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5

Straw-necked Ibis scooping up water

(Threskiornis spinicollis)
Alternate name(s): "Farmer's Friend", "Dryweather-bird", "Letter-bird"
Aboriginal name(s): "paipan", "murrgumurrgu" [yuwaalaraay, yuwaalayaay];
"jungar*" [western bundjalung]
Size: 59-76 cm; wing span: 1.0-1.2 m
Body mass: 1.1-1.6 kg
Wing loading [g/cm2]: 0.45-0.62

Back to the Straw-necked Ibis main page .

In July 2020 A. Ross-Taylor observed the drinking technique employed by a Straw-necked Ibis taking water from a shallow puddle in Darwin, NT. All photos shown here are courtesy of A. Ross-Taylor.

The problem

You stand in front of a shallow puddle and are thirsty, but you've got a long, curved bill - and you don't know how to suck water.

Straw-necked Ibis standing in front of a shallow puddle (photo courtesy of A. Ross-Taylor)

The solution

Straw-necked Ibis bending sideways to fill the bill... (photo courtesy of A. Ross-Taylor)

... and then scoop up water as best possible (photo courtesy of A. Ross-Taylor)

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.

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