Australian White Ibis

[Simon Bennett]

Australian White Ibis photographed at a local swamp.

Canon 40D, EF500 f/4 + 1.4tc, tripod, ISO200, f/10, 1/800, evaluative, ec -1, cropped mainly from the left.

[Leo Berzins]

Light and exposure look good. The raised leg and the dribble of water from the bill add interest but the colours and texture of the surface weed really make this a stand-out, in my opinion.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the head angle, exposure control and low angle and would crop a bit off the bottom, remove the horizontal green line at the top and remove the bright spot on the lower bill.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Simon, I like the pink stuff in the BKGR and the nice pose and EXP. Is this a different species from Sacred Ibis?

[Simon Bennett]

Thank you all for comments.

Artie asked Is this a different species from Sacred Ibis? These days the Australian White Ibis Threskiornsis mollucca is regarded as a seperate species to the Sacred Ibis Threskiornis aethiopicus of Africa. However, at one stage, they were treated as the same species.

The pink stuff is an aquatic fern Azolla AKA duckweed.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Simon for the Avian education. I thought that the two species looked a lot alike.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I have heard of this species also commonly referred to as Sacred Ibis and used to call it by that name myself even though I knew the scientific name all along. That's probably as I would have heard others call it that and it was easy to adopt that common name. Hence why I always like to learn scientific names to avoid confusion and encourage the use of the same. :)

Very nice shot of one of our dirt birds BTW Simon. :) Love the dripping water off the bill.

[Juan Aragonés]

Superb low angle Simon. Love the eye contact, raised leg, water falling from the tip of bill and the Bg. The pink azolla color is fantastic. Very good job!