The Leidam in Montagu in the Western Cape must be one of the best places in the area to do bird watching. From the bird hide next to the road one can get great views and photographs of particularly sacred ibis and egrets with herons and weavers also around. Due to the big amount of birds around the dam there is a bit of an … odor in the air, but the quality of the sightings makes more than up for it.
The African Sacred Ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus) is a wading bird of the ibis family and breeds in sub-Saharan Africa, southeastern Iraq, and formerly in Egypt. In Egypt it was venerated and often mummified as a symbol of the god Thoth. The sacred ibis normally occurs in marshy wetlands and mud flats, both inland and on the coast, and that is why they thrive next to the Leidam with the river flowing by about a block away.
This bird is usually silent, but occasionally makes some croaking noises, unlike its vocal relative, the Hadeda Ibis.
I can just imagine the 'odour'! Eeeew! But that's a wonderful sight of the ibis, great photo 🙂
Awesome bird.