Hi all,
Thanks Dave for finding this flock! I first found a White-faced Ibis-looking bird with a pretty broad whitish border in a large flock of Glossy Ibis about 70 meters off South Point Road and tried to get Betsy on it with the scope. After a few attempts, she found another bird with a very limited white feathered border to the facial skin. It also appeared to have red facial skin and eye like the first bird. The border to this bird appeared even all the way around the face. I managed to get a single crummy photo of the bird she found below:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeburchett/8643062745/in/photostream/
After this I refound the individual with more substantial white around the face much closer to the road and was able to get a photo:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeburchett/8643080397/in/photostream
I assume this is the bird Dave Czaplak found but I would like to see his photos. In the field, this bird did not show signs of being a hybrid. Very red facial skin and eye, red legs easy to pick out (knees brightest). If you view the original image size (click on the image to enlarge, then click on "view all sizes") of this photo, there may be evidence that the skin is somewhat purplish but I find the color of these photos unreliable because of cropping, distance involved, and lack of sun.
I would at least like to get comment on the better of the two photos. Obviously the photo quality of the other image leaves a lot to be desired. I will try to refind this flock in the next few days. Hopefully these birds stick around like some of the flocks did last year.
*Links:* Lots of hybrid Plegadis ibis photos: http://www.pbase.com/oklahomabirder/hybridibis
Photo of a White-faced Ibis from Cali similar to the one I photod: http://ibc.lynxeds.com/photo/white-faced-ibis-plegadis-chihi/adult-dirt-road
Good birding, Mike Burchett Ocean Pines, Maryland
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