A mainly white bird with a black head and neck and a long down-curved bill. The head and neck are bare in adults.
The wingtips are dark, and blue-black scapular plumes drape over the short tail and closed wings. Juveniles retain feathers on the head and neck.
At Chelekeleka Wetland in Ethiopia, the African sacred ibis’ daily activity pattern differed between seasons. A master’s thesis published in 2023 reports observations at two selected sites in wet and dry seasons. In the dry season, feeding made up 39.8% of 5,409 recorded activity observations. In the wet season, resting was most common, at 36.5% of 3,944 observations; feeding accounted for 31.4%. The seasonal difference in time spent feeding was statistically significant (p = 0.043).
Feeding was most often recorded in the morning in both seasons, while resting increased around midday and later in the afternoon. The birds searched for worms and insects in muddy and marshy ground; when the lake filled during the wet season, they were also seen feeding at a nearby pig farm. The author discusses limited food in the dry season and rain during the wet season as possible influences. The observations came from two selected locations in this Ethiopian wetland.
IUCN Red List · Least Concern · Global
At the global scale, the IUCN Red List lists the African sacred ibis as Least Concern, based on an assessment dated 9 August 2018. The assessment reports a stable population trend and an estimated 200,000–450,000 mature individuals. Separately, the 2023 thesis from Chelekeleka Wetland in Ethiopia identifies irrigation, overgrazing and waste dumping as pressures on that wetland, and recommends conserving the wetland and its waterbirds.