04 May Wandering Ibis

A rare bird just doesn’t stand much of a chance in Nova Scotia these days. Too many capable birders are out scouring fields and shorelines, Pentaxes and Nikons in hand, for a Crested Caracara, Eurasian Kestrel, or Eastern Towhee to escape notice for long.

At 8:30 Sunday morning, Peggy Scanlan spotted a Glossy Ibis feeding at Waterside Beach Provincial Park. Normally resident in Florida and the Caribbean, the bird has vagrant status in Nova Scotia—meaning it’s a very occasional summer visitor.

Peggy’s Ibis was soon joined by eight others. When she posted photos on the Nova Scotia Bird Society’s Facebook page and the Nova Scotia Rare Bird Alert Yahoo group shortly after 1 p.m., fellow birder Eric Mills pointed out that one of these Ibises is not like the others. You can spot the different bird front and centre in the photo above. Here’s a better look:

The white fringe surrounding this bird’s face, together with the grey bill and reddish legs, marked it as a closely related White-Faced Ibis, a much rarer visitor to Nova Scotia, normally resident in the southwestern US, Mexico, and South America.

This is a great time of year to keep an eye out for birds in Nova Scotia, as so many species are making their annual summer trek to the province. And a bird needn’t be rare to cast its spell.