| Hadada Ibis | |
|---|---|
| In Cape Town, South Africa. | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Pelecaniformes |
| Family: | Threskiornithidae |
| Genus: | Bostrychia |
| Species: | B. hagedash |
| Binomial name | |
| Bostrychia hagedash (Latham, 1790) |
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The Hadada or Hadeda Ibis, Bostrychia hagedash, is an ibis found in Sub-Saharan Africa.
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The Hadeda is a large (about 76 cm long), dark brown ibis with a white "moustache", glossy greenish purple wings, a large black bill with a red stripe on the upper mandible, and blackish legs.
It has a distinctively loud and recognisable haa-haa-haa-de-dah call that is often heard when the birds are flying or are startled, hence the name.
The Hadeda Ibis is found throughout open grasslands, savanna and wetlands, as well as urban parks, school fields, green corridors and large gardens. The countries that this bird occurs in are Sudan, Ethiopia, Senegal, Uganda, Tanzania, Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Gambia, Kenya, Somalia and South Africa.
It feeds mainly on earthworms, using its long scimitar-like bill to probe soft soil. It also eats larger insects, such as the Parktown Prawn, as well as spiders and small lizards. These birds also favour snails and will feed in garden beds around residential homes. They are particularly welcomed on bowling and golf greens because they are assiduous in extracting larvae of moths and beetles that feed on the roots of the grass. It is not clear how they detect these, but it seems likely that they can hear their chewing and digging.
Widespread and common throughout its large range, the Hadada Ibis is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
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