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Glossy Ibises are medium-sized aquatic birds. During the breeding season they have glossy brown plumage on the head, neck and back, while the iridescent wing feathers produce a greenish-black sheen. In eclipse both head and neck lose their glossy appearance and become duller, with greyish streaks. Also the facial border becomes less pronounced. The irises are dark. The long, down-curved bill, the legs and feet are greyish-brown. At a distance, or depending on light conditions, Glossy Ibises can appear to look turquoise-brown, dark-brown or all-black, especially when seen with illumination from behind. Juvenile Glossy Ibises have a greyish streaked head and neck, similar to non-breeding adults.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Glossy Ibis is available HERE .

Glossy Ibises are globally the most widespread species of ibis. They were originally found in (parts of) Europe, the Middle East, Arabia, Asia, Africa and Australia. Quite recently (in the 19th century) they have made the jump from western Africa to Brazil and from there started colonizing the Americas (mostly central and northern America). Within this range they have a preference for temperate to warm climate zones and they are highly migratory and dispersive.

In Arabia Glossy Ibises are mostly summer visitors, but they are most numerous during the migrating seasons. They are more commonly found in western Arabia than the eastern parts of the peninsula.

Glossy Ibises are usually found in various types of freshwater wetlands and grassland, including ephemeral wetlands such as flooded grassland.

Glossy Ibises were first spotted by us in Oman, foraging in a few water puddles in an otherwise dry riverbed (wadi) near Qurm in December 2009.

We have also spotted Glossy Ibises in Australia.

Glossy Ibises were found in Europe as well.