Adults: General plumage is white. Long nuptial plumes on crown and upper nape. Red spot on forehead. Front of head naked, black with warts. Naked areas under arms yellow. Face and throat, naked and black. Eye, red. Eyelids and a small patch above and sometimes below eye yellow-ochre. Bill, straight with spoon-shaped tip, black with caruncled central area slate. Legs, black. Feet, black.
Immatures: As adults but with some black patches on flight feathers. Nuptial plumes on crown, red patch on forehead and yellow-ochre patches on face are all absent. Bill, rather smooth.
Nest
An open platform of broken-down reeds and sticks, placed a few meters above water among the branches of leafy trees. Nest singly or in loose colonies together with ibises, darters and cormorants. Both sexes build nest.
Eggs (Guide)
Up to 4; dull white with brown streaks or spots; oblong-oval; about 65 x 45 mm. Incubation: about 20 -25 days; by both sexes.
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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