Hadada ibis

Bostrychia hagedash

Photo by Sumeet Moghe (Wikipedia)

Common name:
hadada ibis (en); singanga (pt); ibis hagedash (fr); ibis hadada (es); hagedasch (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Ciconiiformes
Family Threskiornithidae

Range:This species is found across most of sub-Saharan Africa, from southern Mauritania to southern Sudan and south to South Africa. It is mostly absent from Angola, Namibia and Botswana.

Size:
These birds are 65-75 cm long and have a wingspan of 90-100 cm. They weigh 1,2-1,3 kg.

Habitat:
The hadada ibis is mostly found in wooded streams and rivers, also using wet grasslands, savannas, irrigated areas, marshes, lakes and reservoirs, mangroves, coastal beaches and forest edges.

Diet:
They feed on various invertebrates, such as earthworms, crustaceans, large insects, spiders and molluscs, but also take lizards and human scraps.

Breeding:
Hadada ibises can breed all year round, varying among different parts of their range. They are monogamous, solitary nesters. The female builds the nest alone, consisting of a platform of sticks with a central bowl lined with grass, lichen, weeds, leaves and other debris. It is typically placed in the fork of an horizontal branch, or occasionally on another structure such a cliff, dam wall, telephone pole or pergola. The female lays 1-5 eggs, which are incubated by parents for 25-28 days. The chicks are fed by both parents and fledge 33-40 days after hatching, but only become fully independent about 3 weeks later.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has an extremely large breeding range and is described as widespread and common. The population has probably increased in the last century due to an increase in the availability of nest sites and food from habitat modification by humans.