The Story
On June 23, 2017, I photographed this Bare-faced Ibis (Phimosus infuscatus) at the Malecón Cameguadua in Chinchiná, Caldas, Colombia. It is called the bare-faced ibis because it has no feathers on its face, which is usually reddish. It lives in open places such as wet meadows, savannas, marshes and rice fields. It is usually seen in flocks, with its own kind or other ibises, and sometimes with domestic animals. Chinchiná lies 17 kilometers southwest of Manizales, at 1,360 meters, in a valley surrounded by coffee plantations.
I used a Canon EOS 70D and the EF400mm f/5.6L USM for this one, at 1/2000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600. IUCN lists the Bare-faced Ibis as Least Concern with a stable population, and Chinchiná is part of the Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2011.
©2018 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Bare-faced Ibis (Phimosus infuscatus) belongs to the family Threskiornithidae (Ibises and Spoonbills) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2025), with the population trend listed as stable. Source: IUCN Red List