CreatureData

Black-faced sheathbill

Chionis minor Hartlaub, 1841

LCLeast Concernbirds

The black-faced sheathbill (Chionis minor) is a species in the family Chionidae, order Charadriiformes. Recorded adults weigh 494 g to 625 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Black-faced sheathbill (Chionis minor)
Photo: Dominique Filippi · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the black-faced sheathbill

Weight
494 g – 625 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Wingspan
74 cm – 79 cmsrc for Wingspan
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Omnivoresrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
marinesrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
29 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
2.3src for Young per litter or clutch
Lifestyle
Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Partialsrc for Migration
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

How big is the black-faced sheathbill?

BLACK-FACED SHEATHBILL · WINGSPAN 79 CMADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 79 cm, the recorded maximum wingspan of the black-faced sheathbill is about 46% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Photos of the black-faced sheathbill

Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.

1 more photo exists under a licence we cannot display: view at source.

Where does the black-faced sheathbill live?

Not recorded

What is the black-faced sheathbill?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The black-faced sheathbill (Chionis minor), also called the lesser sheathbill or paddy bird, is one of only two species of sheathbills, aberrant shorebirds which are terrestrial (land) scavengers of subantarctic islands.

From the Wikipedia article “Black-faced sheathbill” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Black-faced_sheathbill&oldid=1332468708), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the black-faced sheathbill endangered?

The black-faced sheathbill is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.

How is the black-faced sheathbill classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderCharadriiformes
  5. familyChionidae
  6. genusChionis
  7. SpeciesChionis minor Hartlaub, 1841
Other names and names in other languages (38)
  • Lesser sheathbillEnglish
  • KleinpeddieAfrikaans
  • غمدي المنقار أسود الوجهArabic
  • colom antàrtic becnegreCatalan
  • Colom antàrtic de bec negreCatalan
  • štítonos černozobýCzech
  • gweinbig wynebdduWelsh
  • Sortnæbbet SkedenæbDanish
  • SchwarzgesichtscheidenschnabelGerman
  • Schwarzgesicht-ScheidenschnabelGerman
  • nigramaska kionoEsperanto
  • Picovaina de las KerguelenSpanish
  • Paloma Antártica de Cara NegraSpanish
  • ida-tuppnokkEstonian
  • mustatuppinokkaFinnish
  • Petit ChionisFrench
  • crnokljuna uzdašicaCroatian
  • kerguleni tokoscsőrűHungarian
  • Chione minoreItalian
  • Chione faccianeraItalian
  • カオグロサヤハシチドリJapanese
  • 검은얼굴칼집부리물떼새Korean
  • juodaveidis makščiasnapisLithuanian
  • klein ijshoenDutch
  • maskeslirenebbNorwegian
  • pochwodziób czarnodziobyPolish
  • pomba-antártica-de-cara-pretaPortuguese
  • bico-de-bainha-de-faces-pretasPortuguese
  • Малая белая ржанкаRussian
  • Чернолицая белая ржанкаRussian
  • belák čiernozobýSlovak
  • Crnoliki kanijašSerbian
  • svartnäbbad slidnäbbSwedish
  • Küçük kıngagaTurkish
  • Kara Yüzlü KıngagaTurkish
  • сніжниця чорнодзьобаUkrainian
  • 黑脸鞘嘴鸥Chinese
  • 黑臉鞘嘴鷗Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the black-faced sheathbill

Other species in the same genus Chionis.

CompareBlack-faced sheathbill vs Snowy sheathbill

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the black-faced sheathbill?

An adult black-faced sheathbill weighs 494 g – 625 g and has a wingspan of 74 cm – 79 cm, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the black-faced sheathbill endangered?

The black-faced sheathbill is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

What kind of animal is the black-faced sheathbill?

The black-faced sheathbill (Chionis minor) belongs to the family Chionidae in the order Charadriiformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Black-faced sheathbill (Chionis minor). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-faced-sheathbill

MLA

“Black-faced sheathbill (Chionis minor).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-faced-sheathbill.

BibTeX
@misc{black_faced_sheathbill_2026,
  title = {Black-faced sheathbill (Chionis minor)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-faced-sheathbill},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}