Ibises (pronounced "EYE-bis-es") are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae. They all have long down curved bills, and usually feed as a group, probing mud for food items, usually crustaceans. Most species nest in trees, often with spoonbills or herons. The word ibis comes from Greek, originally borrowed from Ancient Egyptian hîb. Folklore The Sacred Ibis was also an object of religious veneration in ancient Egypt, particularly associated with the god, Thoth. At the town of Hermopolis, ibises were reared specifically for sacrificial purposes and in the Serapeum at Saqqara, archaeologists found the mummies of one and a half million ibises and hundreds of thousand of falcons. (cf. "The Way to Eternity: Egyptian Myth", Time-Life Books, Duncan Baird Publishers, 1997, pages 66-67) Species in taxonomic order · Genus Threskiornis ·