Saw and photographed the Orrick road Ibis today. I have no problem calling
it White-faced.
But I entered it in ebird as Glossy/White-faced.
There was also a good number of Greater Yellowlegs and one Dowitcher. Don’t
ask me which. 😉
Sandy Berger
Crawford County
On Tue, Jan 13, 2026 at 6:31 PM Carol Joan Patterson <
<0000003a0ccbe138-dmarc-request...> wrote:
> Donald and I had a rather amusing experience with a Plegadis at Charlie
> Craig one year. After studying Sibley's, back at the truck, he was sure it
> was a Glossy Ibis. I asked, "Why? Give me details." He said, jokingly,
> "I know this is just a trick, because you wanted another look." Ha! So
> did he! Anyway, we headed back. He studied the bird intensely. Every
> time he insisted it was a Glossy, I asked him for details, and he looked
> again. Finally he said, "It's a White-faced Ibis." This time he gave a
> detail - he saw red skin around the eye.
>
> On Monday, January 12, 2026 at 10:18:08 AM CST, Patty McLean <
> <000008e6fff5e5c8-dmarc-request...> wrote:
>
>
> I see i forgot to add "/White-faced' to the title of my first post, so
> updating it here.
>
> While it's good practice not to identify an immature dark ibis to species
> before late Jan/February, the bird in question has an extensive amount of
> glossy green on the wing and tail. Both an adult Glossy and adult
> White-faced show this plumage in the winter. The White-faced adult loses
> its pinkish facial skin and bright white line that circles the back of the
> eye (which looks very similar to the facial features of a Glossy Ibis).
> However, an adult White-faced retains its red iris through the winter,
> which obviously rules out this bird being an adult White-faced Ibis. So
> far, that's as far as I've gotten.
>
> I find these types of similarities to be fascinating and like to dive a
> bit deeper into their distinctions and similarities.
>
> As we have learned through our personal journeys, an immature dark ibis
> will show a brown eye, but a White-faced can begin showing a red iris as
> early as December and certainly by February. However, from what I found in
> Birds of the World, the glossy green coloration of the wings and feathers
> doesn't occur in a juvenile until March-May. Here's what AI has to say
> about this:
> "Juvenile White-faced and Glossy Ibises start dull brown but gain their
> iridescent green/bronze/purple gloss by their first breeding season (around
> 1 year old) during their prealternate molt in early spring, transitioning
> from duller, more uniform brown to the rich, metallic colors of adulthood,
> especially visible in breeding plumage."
>
> This brings the question to my mind about whether this is a young bird or
> an adult. I'm hoping there is someone here who will give us greater detail
> about the specific differences in these two similar species, particularly
> this time of year. If indeed this is an adult, it would qualify for Glossy.
> But if it's not possible to distinguish a juvenile from an adult, this
> would be important information to have in our pockets.
>
> Patty
>
>
> -------- Original message --------
> From: Patty McLean <plm108...>
> Date: 1/11/26 10:36 PM (GMT-06:00)
> To: ARBIRD-L <ARBIRD-L...>
> Subject: Glossy Ibis on Orrick Rd
>
> We made a stop on Orrick Rd today on our way home from visiting family in
> NW Arkansas. We saw a dark ibis along one of the ponds. Thinking it was a
> recently reported White-faced Ibis, we initially reported it as such. In
> fact, the bright sunlight reflected red in the eye at certain angles, but
> it didn't always appear red. Michael took numerous photos which show the
> iris to be brown and, more importantly, the facial skin in front of the eye
> appears to be gray and the lines above/below the eye appear to be pale and
> thin. Knowing that the iris of a juvenile White-faced doesn't turn red
> until late Jan or Feb, what do others think and why? This may likely need
> to remain unknown and submitted as Glossy/White-faced.
>
> See photos of this individual attached to this eBird report.
> https://ebird.org/checklist/S293715673 >
> Patty McLean and Michael Linz
> The Roadrunners
>
>
>
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