Sacred ibis

Description
It has a white plumage with a black head and neck. The beak is long and curved and black in colour. long black feathers hang from the back as a false tail. It has long black legs.

Ethology
It is a daytime bird and gregarious. It builds its nests on trees but also on bushes, rocks or even the ground. They lay 1 to 5 pale blue and red-stained eggs which are incubated by both parents for 28 to 29 days. The hatchlings leave the nest 20 days after birth to gather in a kind of nursery. They become independent before the second month of life.

Interesting facts
It was considered a sacred bird in ancient Egypt, probably because it appeared every year with the floodung of the Nile River. It was domesticated to remain in the temples. When they died, they were mummified and given burial. Today, however, it is a bird that has disappeared from Egypt. It was accidentally introduced to some countries in the Mediterranean basin such as Spain and the south of France.