The Story
On June 29, 2017, I photographed this Bare-faced Ibis (Phimosus infuscatus) at La Florida near Bogotá, 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. Ninety bird species have been recorded at La Florida.
I used a Canon EOS 70D and the EF400mm f/5.6L USM for this one, at 1/500 sec, f/7.1, ISO 100. IUCN lists the Bare-faced Ibis as Least Concern with a stable population, and the Bogotá Water Company is in charge of restoring the city’s wetlands, which support more than 95 species of migratory birds.
©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