Sacred ibis – Threskiornis aethiopicus

The sacred ibis is a common, widespread bird in sub-Saharan Africa. It even nests in Iraq and Iran. In the 1970s and 1980s, many European zoos attempted to introduce freely moving nesting colonies in their territories. In Western France, they formed a population, breeding in small colonies at various sites in the wild and currently totalling more than 1,200 pairs. Non-breeding birds, probably originating in zoos, have been found widely in Europe, but not in Finland. This species cannot become established as a breeding bird in Finland.