Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus), N. of Havasu NWR in the Mohave Valley, Mohave County

This Glossy Ibis was discovered by Paul Lehman and  Barbara Carlson on 5 July 2011 and photographed by David Vander Pluym the same day.

First record for Mohave County.  Casual to rare, but apparently increasing visitor to Arizona. Likely more regular than the few records suggest due to difficulty in picking them out of the more widespread and abundant White-faced Ibis flocks and the difficulty of separating them from hybrids. 

Adult with dark brown eye, grayish, tinged blue facial skin and cobalt blue lines that didn't extend all the way around the eye (the lines appeared much bluer in person than in the photos, something that seems to be typical), no reddish color on the face. Brown bill and dull legs.

05 July 2011, photo by David Vander Pluym