White-faced Ibises, Ludington 4/25/2021

 

  It's been a while since I had a bird sighting that required me to fill out paperwork but I think the Michigan Birds Record Committee is going to want to hear about what I saw this morning.

   Dave Dister called this morning to tell of a photo op of 6 Great Egrets at the marsh on Pere Marquette Highway south of Ludington.  I headed out there and saw a group of 5 egrets in the middle of the west side of the marsh and another one to the south near Sutton's Landing.  After a couple of distant photos, two more egrets flew towards the landing.  So I packed up and headed to the parking lot there for a closer look.  The view of the egrets from there was quite obscured by cattails. Just as I was repositioning for a better view I noticed 4 dark birds approaching my location. I dismissed them as Double-crested Cormorants until they turned and I saw their long curved bills in profile.  Ibises. Before I could get any shots off they completed a U-turn and headed away from me.  They quickly circled back and I fired off a series of poorly illuminated photos.

   The lower bird in the photo above didn't have the complete white rim around its face that is characteristic of the White-face Ibis. But it does fit with the description of a 'drab adult' in the Sibley's Guide to Birds'.

    I went back in the afternoon and had better lighting but the birds were much farther away and no facial features whatsoever were seen in any detail.  

   White-faced Ibis sightings have only been documented 42 times in Michigan according to the record committee.  Their normal range only crosses east of the Mississippi River in the southern half of  the state of Mississippi and the part of the gulf coast where the panhandles of Alabama and Florida meet.