Charlie’s Photo of the Week is Quite ‘Glossy’

I am trying to decide ‘WHAT’ my Photo of the Week article is going to be about. Being a little more specific, I am toying back and forth, if that ‘WHAT’, should to be about a Historical Site or one of my Wildlife/Nature stories? DECISIONS, DECISIONS!

On one hand, I am interested in keeping you informed about the upcoming EXPLORE WARREN HISTORY TRAIL activities coming up November 6^th and 7^th, I have done two articles recently about Historical Sites/Sights – Shippen Manor and the Ramsaysburg Homestead along with giving you a reminder of Explore Warren History Trail (website below) with those articles!

On the other hand, I just by chance, came across a couple of photos of two Glossy Ibises at Allamuchy Pond, I took those photos while hiking Allamuchy Pond Trail back in May 6, 2017! PONDERING HERE, I have only seen Glossy Ibis once in all my travels! During my research, I learned, while not rare, they are certainly not, in my mind, something I would expect to come across day in and day out! (‘HMMM – continue to ponder and now beginning to justify’) I have already done a pretty good job of advertising and talking History! I can put a plug in again, EVEN, if I choose Wildlife!! I am ‘kinda’ known for doing Wildlife and Nature for Insidewarren.com! Last but not least, Dan from Insidewarren.com had mentioned in an earlier email that the website would be running (and they did) a lot more about the trail. With that in mind, my decision is made.

I will do the Glossy Ibis with a reminder of Warren History Trail!! I’ve got my Photo of the Week article!

And so, through my research, here’s some background….

The Glossy Ibis is a water bird in the order Pelecaniformes and the ibis and spoonbill family Threskiornithidae. The scientific name derives from Ancient Greek plegados and Latin, falcis, both meaning “sickle” and referring to the distinctive shape of the bill.

The Glossy Ibis probably crossed the Atlantic Ocean from Africa to northern South America in the 19^th century, dispersing northward into the United States by way of the Caribbean region. In recent years it has expanded its range considerably and is now a common breeder in areas where it was formerly rare or absent. Away from salt water it frequently eats crayfish, but along the coast it feeds mostly on fiddler crabs. It also eats insects and snakes, including the poisonous water moccasin.

WHAT DO GLOSSY IBIS EAT?

They are carnivores (insectivores, piscivores) and their diet is variable according to the season and is very dependent on what is available. They eat leeches, earthworms, marine worms, dragonflies, crickets, grasshoppers, many species of beetles, soldier-flies, crabs, shrimp, crayfish, mollusks, snails, fish, frogs, toads, newts, salamanders, snakes and lizards.

DESCRIPTION – A large, all-dark marsh bird with a down-curved bill. Size, 22-25 inches with a wing span of 3 feet 1 inch. Their plumage is a rich chestnut in breeding season; wings glossy greenish and brown eyes. The bare face is outlined by a thin white line. Their voice are low grunts and higher-pitched bleats.

HABITAT – Marshes, swamps, flooded fields, coastal bays and estuaries; NESTING – 3-4 pale blue-green eggs in a stick nest located in a bush or tree, rarely on the ground. Nests in colonies, often along with herons. They will renest if unsuccessful and will also use abandoned nests of other wading birds (Baynard 1913)

You ask, “How long does it take Glossy Ibis to ‘fledge’ (rear a young bird to fly)?”

They fledge about 28 days after hatching, but the parents continue to feed them another 6 or 7 weeks until they become fully independent. The main threats to Glossy Ibises include degradation and loss of their wetland habitat through drainage, increased salinity, groundwater extraction and invasion by exotic plants.

RANGE – Breeds on or near the coast, chiefly from Maine to Florida and Texas where it is a resident. In winter, it migrates and resides along the Gulf Coast and on the Atlantic Coast south from the Carolinas. It is also in the Old World. Flocks of Glossy Ibises wade in the shallows of eastern marshes, probing for food with their sickle-shaped bills. Widespread in the Old World, the species is found in the New World mainly in the West Indies and along our Atlantic Coast, especially Florida, where it was quite scarce as recently as the 1930’s. As stated earlier, it may have invaded within the last few centuries, riding the trade winds across West Africa to the Caribbean.