Ibisbill

About the Ibisbill

The ibisbill (Ibidorhyncha struthersii) is a bird related to the waders, but sufficiently distinctive to merit its own family Ibidorhynchidae. It is grey with a white belly, red legs and long down-curved bill, and a black face and black breast band. It occurs on the shingle riverbanks of the high plateaux of central Asia and the Himalayas.

The ibisbill belongs to the order Charadriiformes which also includes the sandpipers, plovers, terns, auks, gulls, skuas and others. In its evolutionary relationships, it appears to be most closely related to a group including the oystercatchers (Haematopodidae), and the avocets and stilts (Recurvirostridae), but sufficiently distinctive to merit its own family, Ibidorhynchidae. It is monotypic, with no subspecies.

The species was described in 1831 by Vigors based on painting by John Gould, although Brian Hodgson had sent a manuscript to the Asiatic Society of Bengal two years earlier describing it as the "Red-billed Erolia" but this was published only in 1835 with an apology from the editor. Hodgson later suggested a new genus name of Clorhynchus for the bird stating that Gould's description of Ibidorhyncha was inaccurate while Vieillot... Wikipedia →