This is an alternate-plumaged Glossy Ibis found by Mike Rogers on 5/14/01 in Alviso, CA. Mike noted that there are sightings pending approval from Southern California that are likely to be accepted by the CBRC, but as yet, there are no accepted sightings of this species in California. This will most likely be Northern California's first record.
Some technical notes about how this got to the web. I shot the photos with a 35mm film setup: Canon A2E with 2X converter on a 500mm f4.5 lense. I used Fuji Provia 100 pushed one stop. The images were captured between 9:30a and 9:45a on 5/15/01. I had the film processed at Custom Color Labs in Mountain View, CA. I digitized the images on a Nikon CoolPix 990 with a slide duping attachment. I scaled and downrez'd the JPEGs in PhotoShop using the "Save for Web" option. The pale blue of the lores didn't survive the translation very well.
For a detailed write up of this bird, go to Joe Morlan's California Birding Web site
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Note the grayish-tan legs with red "knees" (actually the ankles, as correctly described in Joe Morlan's account). This helped to set this bird apart from the White-faced Ibis when its face was turned away. |
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The blue bare facial skin may be slightly noticeable. Compare the legs with the White-faced Ibis. |
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One more for the road.... |