After calculating the longevities of two of the South Africa ibis species, I figured that I ought to do the rest as well. This week I will be looking at the Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus). Similar to the African Sacred and Hadeda Ibis, this record has been held for many years (1988; Ring: 710876). The individual was initially ringed on December 4th, 1971 and recovered on April 1st, 1988. The individual was found at Brakpan Dam (by a member of public; Pieter Potgieter), 9 km from its intial ringing/ hatching site at Westdene Pan, Benoni. As this individual was ringed as a chick it would not have been much older than the calculated age of 16 years 4 months. The cause of death is unknown as no details were reported at the time. As this species is known to occur in many parts of the world, I was able to find a greater longevity record from the United States of America (21 years Ref ). Greater yet was a captive bred individual that was reported to have reached 26 years 9 months and 26 days Ref.
If you feel you know of an older record please contact us at SAFRING with the details.
The great photo included with this article is accredited to V Jessnitz and was linked from BirdPix.
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| Taxonomy | Maximum Longevity |
| Order: Pelecaniformes Family: Threskiornithidae Genus: Plegadis |
13 years (Roberts 7) 16.33 years (SAFRING) |
| Species | Ring Number |
| Plegadis falcinellus | 710876 |
| Common name | Sample size |
| Glossy Ibis | Ringed: 634 Retrapped: 0 Recovered: 10 Total: 644 |
