Threskiornis melanocephalus (Black headed Ibis)
Class: Aves
Sub -class: Neornithes
Super-order: Neognathae
Order: Ciconiiformes
• Also known as Oriental ibis.
• It is a species of wading bird found in marshy wet lands, in land and on coast.
• It feeds on various fishes, frogs and other water creatures as well as on insects.
• It walks about actively on marshy land probing with its bill into the soft and often feeds in shallow water with its head momentarily sub-merged like other species.
• It is vulnerable to drainage of wet lands and conversion of its habitat for agriculture.
• It is also increasingly affected by hunting and egg collection as well as poisoning by pesticides and disturbances at its breeding colonies.
• It lacks a true voice producing mechanism and is silent except for peculiar ventriloquial grunts uttered when nesting.
• It lays 4-black marked brown eggs in a floating nest.
• The male takes responsibility of incubation.
• Legs and toes are exceptionally long and slender; this is a feature which helps them to walk over aquatic vegetation.
• Toes lack webs.