Description
This is, by far, the largest of the world's ibises. Adults are reportedly 102–106 cm (40–42 in) long, with an upright standing height of up to 100 cm (39 in) and are estimated to weigh about 4.2 kg (9.3 lbs). Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 52.3–57 cm (20.6–22 in), the tail is 30 cm (12 in), the tarsus is 11 cm (4.3 in) and the culmen is 20.8–23.4 cm (8.2–9.2 in). The adults have overall dark grayish-brown plumage with a naked, greyish head and upper neck. There are dark bands across the back of the head and shoulder area and the pale silvery-grey wing tips also have black crossbars. The beak is yellowish-brown, the legs are orange, and the eyes are dark red. Juveniles have short black feathers on the back of the head down to the neck, shorter bills and brown eyes.
It has a loud, ringing call, frequently repeated around dawn or dusk, a-leurk a-leurk.
Read more about this topic: Giant Ibis
Famous quotes containing the word description:
“Once a child has demonstrated his capacity for independent functioning in any area, his lapses into dependent behavior, even though temporary, make the mother feel that she is being taken advantage of....What only yesterday was a description of the childs stage in life has become an indictment, a judgment.”
—Elaine Heffner (20th century)
“The next Augustan age will dawn on the other side of the Atlantic. There will, perhaps, be a Thucydides at Boston, a Xenophon at New York, and, in time, a Virgil at Mexico, and a Newton at Peru. At last, some curious traveller from Lima will visit England and give a description of the ruins of St. Pauls, like the editions of Balbec and Palmyra.”
—Horace Walpole (17171797)
“I fancy it must be the quantity of animal food eaten by the English which renders their character insusceptible of civilisation. I suspect it is in their kitchens and not in their churches that their reformation must be worked, and that Missionaries of that description from [France] would avail more than those who should endeavor to tame them by precepts of religion or philosophy.”
—Thomas Jefferson (17431826)