[order] CHARADRIIFORMES | [family] Ibidorhynchidae | [latin] Ibidorhyncha struthersii | [UK] Ibisbill | [FR] Bec-d’ibis tibetain | [DE] Ibisschnabel | [ES] Picoibis | [NL] Ibissnavel
Subspecies
| Genus | Species | subspecies | Breeding Range | Breeding Range 2 | Non Breeding Range |
| Himantopus | struthersii | ||||
| Ibidorhyncha | struthersii | ||||
| Ibidorhyncha | struthersii | EU | Himalayas to nw China |
Physical charateristics
The bird is about 41 cm in length. Adult bird has a black face. Throat and breast band are also black in colour. It has grey upper parts, white under parts and strongly down curved dark red bill. In fl ight, it shows a blackish tail-band. Juvenile has a whitish or brown face.
Listen to the sound of Ibisbill
[audio:http://www.aviflevoland.nl/sounddb/I/Ibisbill.mp3]
Copyright remark: Most sounds derived from xeno-canto
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Range
Eurasia : Himalayas to Northwest China
Habitat
The Ibisbill breeds across southern Central Asia along stony riverbeds, mostly between 1700 and 4400 m. It typically is found in shingle-bed river valleys from 100 to 1500 m across with patches of sand and silt mixed in with pepples and small boulders.
Reproduction
The Ibisbill is a monogamous breeder. During the breeding season, The nest is located on a bank, island or peninsula on the river, and is little more than a scrape on the ground, which is sometimes lined with small pebbles. Eggs are laid in the end of April-beginning of May. The clutch size is 2-4 eggs. Incubation and fledging period unknown. It is suspected that chicks from the previous brood may act as helpers at the nest.
Feeding habits
The Ibisbill forages by probing under rocks or gravel on stream beds. Itpreys on a variety of terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates including caddisfly and mayfly larvae, grasshoppers and also small fish.
Conservation
This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population trend is not known, but the population is not believed to be decreasing sufficiently rapidly to approach the thresholds under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size has not been quantified, but it is not believed to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
Migration
Altitudinal migrant; birds tend to descend in winter, in Himalayan zone to as low as 100m. Species remain more or less within breeding range all year round.
Distribution map
