[2] The upper neck is white, as are the underparts and the undertail; their legs are usually red near the top and dark grey toward the feet.

[5] Straw-necked ibises are commonly found throughout Australia, nesting at least occasionally in all mainland states and territories, except in the arid interior.

[8][2] Found around shallow freshwater wetlands, cultivated pastures, edges of swamps and lagoons, and wet or dry grasslands.

[10] Straw-neck ibises are partly migratory: some birds are sedentary, while others make seasonal or erratic movements when water conditions vary.

[6] In shallow waters, straw-necked ibises feed on aquatic insects, molluscs, frogs, freshwater crayfish (Cherax) and fish.

[8][9] Compared to the Australian white ibis, they have not adapted to a wide variety of food and are only rarely opportunistic scavengers of human waste.

In southwestern Australia, it normally occurs from August to December; occasional breeding takes place in the north, but on a very small scale.

[2] They build a large, rough, cup-shaped nest of sticks and trampled plants among reeds, paperbarks, bulrushes, or trees over water.