Threskiornis

Threskiornis
	Australian white ibis, Darling Harbour, Sydney
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Pelecaniformes
Family:	Threskiornithidae
Subfamily:	Threskiornithinae
Genus:	Threskiornis; G.R. Gray, 1842
Type species
	Tantalus aethiopicus; Latham, 1790
Species
	T. aethiopicus; T. bernieri; T. melanocephalus; T. molucca; †T. solitarius; T. spinicollis

Threskiornis is a genus of ibises, wading birds of the family Threskiornithidae. They occur in the warmer parts of the Old World in southern Asia, Australasia and Sub-Saharan Africa. They are colonial breeders, which build a stick nest in a tree or bush and lay two to four eggs. They occur in marshy wetlands and feed on various fish, frogs, crustaceans and insects. In English, they are called sacred ibises. In Australia, urban dwelling ibises are known colloquially as "bin chickens".

Description

Adult Threskiornis ibises are typically 75 cm long and have white body plumage. The bald head, neck and legs are black. The bill is thick and curved. Sexes are similar, but juveniles have whiter necks duller plumage. The straw-necked ibis differs from the other species in having dark upperparts, and is some times placed in the separate genus Carphibis (Jameson, 1835) as Carphibis spinicollis. A flightless species, the Reunion ibis, became extinct in the 18th century.

Species

Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution
T. aethiopicus	African sacred ibis	Sub-Saharan Africa, southeastern Iraq, and formerly in Egypt
T. bernieri	Malagasy sacred ibis	Madagascar
T. melanocephalus	Black-headed ibis	Northern India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka east up to Japan
T. moluccus	Australian white ibis	Eastern, northern and south-western Australia
T. spinicollis	Straw-necked ibis	Australia (except parts of Western Australia, South Australia, and south-west Tasmania), Indonesia and New Guinea
T. solitarius †	Reunion ibis	Extinct, lived on Réunion island

References

Lowe, Kim W. & Richards, Geraldine C. (1991). "Morphological variation in the Sacred Ibis Threskiornis aethiopicus superspecies complex". Emu. 91 (1): 41–45. Bibcode:1991EmuAO..91...41L. doi:10.1071/MU9910041.