Green Ibis (Mesembrinibis cayennensis) is a species that can reliably be found at and near CATIE, Turrialba, but recently a pair appeared in Santa Rosa at a much higher elevation than is normal.

The loving couple

John and Milena Beer were able to photograph and video an extended courtship display of this pair. The following link to Cornell University gives detailed information on what normal courtship display consists of for this species.

https://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/Species-Account/nb/species/greibi1/behavior

Green Ibis in courtship display

The next 3 photos show the pair, as mentioned in the Cornell text, allopreening…

Allopreening

…bill bumping….

Bill-bumping

…and sharing a seemingly valuable stick:

Want a stick?

However, John also reports “an impressive display where the ¿male? dipped deeply down, like a calling male Montezuma Oropendola, spreading wings and tail and thus looking like a massive bird (not mentioned in the Cornell account).  I also got a video of ¨Head Shaking display….. and duet with a soft deep “Brrr” call”.

All images in this post are courtesy of John and Milena Beer and the day’s checklist with the full range of Green Ibis photos can be found at:

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48555997

Be sure to take a look because it also includes some very nice shots of typical garden birds of our area.