Black-headed Ibis

Threskiornis melanocephalus (Latham, 1790)

65–76 cmLength1.3 kgWeight

It has a mainly white body, a bare blackish head and neck, and a curved black bill.

Busiest months: December–February · Most records: India, Sri Lanka, Thailand

Least Concern

How to identify

Field marks

Black bare skin on the head and neck, without feathers
Mainly white body feathers
Black, decurved bill
Black legs and feet

Male, female and young

Sexes alike; juveniles have gray feathers on the neck and rufous-gray spots on the wings and back.

Voice

Almost silent, with pairs giving ventriloquial grunts only beside the nest.

Where and when it's recorded

Black-headed Ibis has been recorded at 331 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 14 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

To protect this bird from disturbance, we don't list exact sites.

Countries and regions with the most records

India Sri Lanka Thailand Cambodia Bangladesh Nepal China Vietnam

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The black-headed ibis (Threskiornis melanocephalus), also known as the Oriental white ibis, Indian white ibis, and black-necked ibis, is a species of wading bird of the ibis family Threskiornithidae which breeds in the South and Southeast Asia from India to the west and as far east as Japan.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions

How big is the Black-headed Ibis?

The Black-headed Ibis is about 65–76 cm long and weighs around 1.3 kg.

Where does the Black-headed Ibis live?

Its breeding range: Oriental: India, Southeast Asia, southeastern Sumatra and northern Java (where now rare). It is most often recorded in India, Sri Lanka and Thailand.