Bare-faced Ibis

How to find it

Because it is a vagrant here, treat this as a bird to recognise rather than to plan around. Scan open, soft-soiled ground such as marshes, flooded grassland and rice fields, where ibises probe for food. Check any dark ibis for a pink face, bill and legs. Watch for long lines or V shapes of dark birds flying to or from a roost. It moves slowly, so a patient scan of a wet field gives you time to see the bare parts.

How to recognise it

Start with size: this is a small, dull ibis, smaller and shorter-legged than any other ibis in the Neotropics. Total length is about 45 to 50 cm.

Look for these marks:

Dark brown or blackish plumage.

A face with no feathers, showing bare pink skin.

A long, thin, slightly downcurved bill, pinkish to reddish, with a pink base.

Pinkish to reddish legs.

A tail about as long as the folded wing.

Young birds differ: they have a feathered face and duller colours. In adults, the pink face, bill and legs set against the dark body are the clearest signs, so check the bare parts first.

Behaviour and diet

Across its normal range the Bare-faced Ibis is sociable and forms flocks of up to several hundred birds. It often flies to and from roosts in long lines and V shapes, which can be the easiest moment to notice a group.

It is fairly tame and moves slowly while feeding, probing wet meadows and muddy ground with its long curved bill. Outside the breeding season it may join other waterbirds.

Where it lives

Its habitat is open marshes and wet grassland. Its normal range is South America, from northern Colombia east across the Venezuelan llanos, and from eastern Brazil to Bolivia and central Argentina.

It is recorded from sea level up to about 800 m, and in Colombia it has also been seen in mountain areas as high as 2,600 m. In Costa Rica it is not a regular resident, and no site for it is given on the official list.

Similar birds

The Green Ibis is the resident Costa Rican ibis most likely to be mixed up with it. It is dark too, but it has grey facial skin and pale green legs and bill. The Bare-faced Ibis has a pink face, bill and legs. The Sharp-tailed Ibis is not a Costa Rican bird, but it is also very short-legged; every other ibis of the Americas has longer legs.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The Costa Rican name is Ibis Caripelado, which is also the Ecuadorian name. Its English nickname is whispering ibis, and the genus name Phimosus comes from a Greek word meaning to be silent. Elsewhere it is called Coquito in Colombia, Cuervillo Cara Pelada in Argentina and Ibis Afeitado in Spain.

Status and conservation

The official Costa Rican bird list includes the Bare-faced Ibis as Ibis Caripelado with the code A, and Avibase treats it as rare or accidental.