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Today I bring you a little about a bird that for centuries has enchanted the inhabitants of much of the Mediterranean, its unusual appearance has turned it into a striking bird, I'm talking about the Hermit ibis. Come with me to learn a little about the main characteristics of this incredible bird.
The Hermit ibis is a medium-sized bird whose habitat is some semi-desert and arid areas, usually measuring between 70 and 80 cm with an approximate weight of 1.5 kg but does not always look the same as it is able to significantly change its features at different stages of its life. Its most outstanding characteristic is its elongated and curved beak that has an intense red color. It belongs to the family Threskiornithidae.
As soon as their feathers we will notice that they are black, although in some places they present metallic tonalities, between the throat and head they are devoid of feathers being this other of their characteristics that accompany to this bird.
It is a very social bird, and its way of life is limited to the creation of colonies, in general, build their nests near the cliffs. They love semi-arid areas where there are abundant rocks, although they can also be found in areas with crops, steep areas, and grasslands.
As for their reproduction is present its mating season which is marked on the calendar between February and April, the first months the Hermit ibis is responsible for carefully selecting the materials for building the nests in half of this time will mate and for the month of April the female will lay between 2 and 4 eggs, the incubation lasts only 28 days, the chicks will be jealously cared for by both male and female, this period will last almost two months for when the date is met the chicks will be able to fly and start to fend for themselves.
The nests are usually built on cliffs, these places are considered safe by the Ibis eremita and difficult access for different predators but are still vulnerable and in constant threat of extinction. For their construction they select the variety of yerbas and branches that they can find around them, it is common that they build their nests next to other specimens of the same species since it is customary to live in colonies.
Some of the main causes that have endangered this beautiful species are the loss of its habitat, this is often related to the contamination with pesticides that is related to agriculture on areas that were previously wild, in addition to hunting only to kill it and other minor annoyances caused by human interaction.
As far as their diet is concerned, we could say that their diet is based on the ingestion of a varied amount of insects, almost all of them of vertebrate origin. They go out to hunt flying in a classic formation in V-shaped birds are dedicated to sweeping extensions of up to 15 kilometers especially in winter. Among the vertebrates that it seeks exhaustively to feed itself are chicks of other birds, lizards, and small mammals.
According to the last count, there are only approximately 500 specimens left in their natural habitat and another 1000 that live in captivity in different zoos around the world.
In areas such as Turkey and Syria disappeared in the middle of the last century for the reasons mentioned above.
Currently, reserves are being made where they commonly live in order to establish exclusive protection zones and thus be able to save this species that lived for centuries without any kind of problems.
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