Sacred ibises are native to Africa and Madagascar.  Part of the group of medium-sized wading birds, they are 30 inches in length with bills which are long, thin and strongly down-curved; and their faces are without feathers.  They are gregarious birds, traveling and breeding in flocks.  They fly with their necks straight out in front and their long legs trailing behind, alternately flapping and soaring.

These birds inhabit shores and marshes and feed on amphibians, insects, insect larvae, and other small aquatic animals.  They feed by touch, not sight, as an adaptation to the muddy waters.  Nests are formed on the ground in papyrus thickets or bushes or in trees.  Three to four eggs are laid.  The chicks have dark plumage and are fledged in 5 - 6 weeks. 

Ibises are an ancient group of birds: their fossil record goes back 60 million years.  Their record in human history goes back 5,000 years.  The ancient Egyptians venerated the Sacred Ibis and made it an integral part of their religion and of their written hieroglyphics.  To them it was the god Thoth (the scribe to the gods), so Thoth was pictured with the head of an ibis.  In Egypt today the sacred ibis is very rare; it is common only in Africa south of the Sahara.  They have not been bred in Egypt since the first half of the nineteenth century.