Straw-necked Ibis (3/9)

CICONIIFORMES: Threskiornithidae

Threskiornis spinicollis  

J A Leach on the Straw-necked Ibis:

The Straw-necked Ibis is restricted to Australia. It seems to be increasing in numbers, for I have seen small and large flocks in many parts of the Eastern States recently. It has an insatiable appetite for grasshoppers and other insects. This bird is a valuable asset to Australia, and yet thoughtless farmers used to shoot it. Mr. Le Souef and Dr. C. Ryan came upon a flock of Ibises breeding in Riverina. They estimated the flock to contain 240,000 birds. They found that each bird shot contained on the average 2000 young grasshoppers. Think of it; 480,000,000 grasshoppers a day! Where are those birds now, when needed to stem a locust plague? We have to pay the price of our folly in destroying valuable birds.

An Australian Bird Book, 1912, 2nd Ed. p52.
by J A Leach, M.Sc (1870-1929).