Adults: General plumage dark red-brown with metallic, iridescent green sheen on wings. Head, dusky, straked white in non-breeding birds. Eye, brown. Bill, olive-brown. Legs, brown., Feet, brown.
Immatures: Duller in color than adults with dusky breast and belly. Bill is less curved. Head and neck, patchy white.
Downy Young: Dusky with white crown band. Bill, black, with two flesh colored bands.
Afghanistan (P), Albania (B) (P), Algeria, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia (B), Aruba, Australia (B), Azerbaijan (B) (P), Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bosnia and Herzegovina (B), Botswana, Bulgaria (B) (NB) (P), Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada (B), Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, China (mainland), Colombia, Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Costa Rica, Côte dIvoire, Croatia (Local Name: Hrvatska) (B), Cuba, Cyprus (P), Czech Republic (NB), Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, France (B) (P), Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Greece (B) (NB) (P), Guadeloupe, Guinea-bissau, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary (B), India, Indonesia, Iran [Islamic Republic of] (B) (NB), Iraq (B) (NB), Israel (NB) (P), Italy (B) (NB) (P), Jamaica (B), Jordan (P), Kazakhstan (B), Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Liberia, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Luxembourg, Macedonia [The Former Yugoslav Republic of] (B) (NB), Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Malta, Martinique, Mauritania, Mexico, Moldova [Republic of] (B), Montenegro (B), Montserrat, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands Antilles, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Romania (B) (P), Russia (European) (B) (P), Rwanda, Saudi Arabia (NB) (P), Senegal, Serbia (B), Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia (Slovak Republic), Slovenia, Somalia, South Africa, Spain (B) (NB), Sri Lanka, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and The Grenadines, Sudan, Swaziland, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Tanzania [United Republic of], Thailand, Timor-Leste (NB), Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey (B) (NB) (P), Turkmenistan (B), Turks and Caicos Islands, Uganda, Ukraine (B) (P), United Arab Emirates, USA (B), Uzbekistan (B), Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia (B), Zimbabwe.
Vagrant to Austria, Belgium, British Indian Ocean Territory, Brunei Darussalam, Cape Verde, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, Germany, Gibraltar, Hong Kong (China), Iceland, Ireland (NB), Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lesotho, Maldives, Netherlands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russia (Central Asian), Solomon Islands, St Pierre and Miquelon (P), Sweden, Switzerland, Togo, United Kingdom, Virgin Islands (British), Virgin Islands (U.S.).
Wide discontinuous breeding distribution from southern Europe, Africa and Madagascar to central and southern Asia, Philippines, Sulawesi and Java; southern New Guinea and Australia. Also Atlantic coast of North America and West Indies; has bred in Venezuela. Occurs more widely as vagrant.
 
Population
Estimated population is 1,200,000 - 3,200,000 (2010).
Food
Frogs, snails, spiders and aquatic insects and their larvae. Occasionally beetles and grasshoppers.
Voice
Generally silent away from nest, but occasionally gives deep grunting 'grrr', a muffled, nasal moaning, 'urun urun urun' and deep quacking sounds.
Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) [XC800219]
by Stanislas Wroza from Rogliano, Haute-Corse, Corse, France (song)
Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) [XC108826]
by Paul Marvin from Emeralda Marsh Conservation Area, Lake Co., Florida, United States (call)
Nest
A platform of sticks, lined with reeds and other aquatic plants, placed in an upright forked branch of a tree, or upon lignum bushes. Usually in the central parts of swamps. Often found with other ibises in small colonies.
Eggs (Guide)
Up to 6, usually 3; green-blue; elongate-oval; about 52 x 35 mm. Incubation: by both sexes.
Young
Semi-altricial, nidicolous. Fed by both parents, by regurgitation.
Subspecies
Forms superspecies with White-faced Ibis (Plegadis chihi), which was formerly considered a subspecies of present species. Population of Philippines, Indonesia and Australia have been assigned separate subspecies, peregrinus, but recent studies show that differences are not significant.
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