White-shouldered ibis

White-shouldered ibis
Conservation status
Critically Endangered (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Vertebrata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Ciconiiformes (disputed)
Family:	Threskiornithidae
Subfamily:	Threskionithinae
Genus:	Pseudibis
Species:	P. davisoni
Binomial name
Pseudibis davisoni Hume, 1875
Synonyms
Pseudibis papillosa davisoni

The white-shouldered ibis (Pseudibis davisoni ) is a species of wading bird of the ibis family, Threskiornithidae.

Geographic range

P. davisoni occurs at a few sites in northern Cambodia, southern Vietnam, extreme southern Laos, and East Kalimantan in Indonesia.

Habitat

The white-shouldered ibis occurs in lakes, pools, marshes, and slow-flowing rivers in open lowland forest. It also inhabits sparsely wooded, dry or wet grasslands, and wide rivers with sand and gravel bars.

Description

Adults are typically 75–85 cm (30–33 in) long, dark plumaged, with a distinctive pale collar which at close range appears bluish. The bald head is black, the legs are red, and it has a whitish patch on the inner forewing, which gives the bird its name.

Conservation status

Due to small population size and ongoing habitat loss through logging of lowland forests and drainage of wetlands for agriculture, the white-shouldered ibis is evaluated as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The current world population was estimated to be less than 250, possibly as low as 49, although a 2009 survey of the species has counted 310 individuals. In 2010 a record 429 were found in Cambodia, of which more than 170 birds were in Lomphat Wildlife Sanctuary. This site is now the second most important place in the world for this species. With a known population of over 200 examples, western Siem Pang IBA is the first.

Etymology

The binomial commemorates William Ruxton Davison.

External links

• ARKive - images and movies of the white-shouldered ibis (Pseudibis davisoni)
• BirdLife Species Factsheet