Madagascar Ibis
Lophotibis cristata
A rather fantastical forest-dwelling ibis with a colorful face, white wing, and rich brown body. Endemic to Madagascar, where it is most frequently encountered in eastern rainforest, though it also occurs locally in western deciduous forest. Roosts and nests in trees, and feeds on the forest floor. Extremely shy, and unless spooked will rapidly flee from disturbance on foot. Very loud and vocal, giving a long and agitated series of wheezy, whining notes. Calls most often at dawn and dusk and during the night.
Identification
The Madagascar ibis, with a length of 50 cm (20 in), is among the largest birds in the Madagascar forest. The head is black and the upper parts are rufous brown. The chin, neck and throat and underparts are dark brown and the wing largely white. Part of the face is naked and red, including round the eye, and the crown and back of the neck bear a crest of long feathers which are black with a metallic sheen. In the subspecies L. c. cristata, the sheen is green and there are flecks of white; in the subspecies L. c. urschi, the throat, neck and crest have a greenish sheen mixed with yellowish-orange, and the body colour is darker chestnut. The iris is brown, the very long beak is horn-coloured and the legs and feet are red.
Taxonomy
The Madagascar ibis was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1781 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux from a specimen collected on the island of Madagascar. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Tantalus cristatus in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées. The Madagascar ibis is now the only species placed in the genus Lophotibis that was erected by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach in 1853. The name of the genus combines the Ancient Greek lophos meaning "crest" and ibis; the specific epithet cristata is from the Latin crustatus meaning "crest".
- Scientific name
- Lophotibis cristata
- Authority
- (Boddaert, 1783)
- Order
- Pelecaniformes
- Family
- Threskiornithidae
- Genus
- Lophotibis
Range and habitat
The Madagascar ibis is endemic to the woodlands and forests of Madagascar at altitudes of up to 2,000 m (6,600 ft). It is found in both primary and secondary forest, including humid forest in the northeast of the island and dry forests in the west and south.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Its diet consists mainly of insects, spiders, frogs, reptiles, snails and invertebrates. The female usually lays three eggs in a platform nest made from twigs and branches.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Chunky, cryptic, short-legged, long-billed shorebird. In flight, shows much white on the outer tail and underwing. Found in thickly vegetated wetlands. Restricted to middle and high elevations across the majority of its range. Most often seen when it flushes explosively, often giving a rough “shrik” call. Display vocalization is a long accelerating series of “kik” notes, followed by a hollow booming made by the outer tail in flight display. Similar to Common Snipe, but darker and with much white in the outer tail. Also easily confused with the uncommon Great Snipe, but African is paler, lacks strong bars on the wing, and has a white rather than dark underwing.
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