Colophon

The animal on the cover of Modern PHP is a straw-necked ibis (Threskiornis spinicollis). It can be found throughout Australia, New Guinea, and parts of Indonesia.

Straw-necked ibises are large birds, growing up to 30 inches long. The distinctive stiff feathers on the neck from which the bird gets its name appear during adulthood. They have long, curved beaks that help them sift through water for insects, mollusks, and frogs. Farmers welcome straw-necked ibises in their fields because the birds will eat insects, grasshoppers, crickets and locusts that would have otherwise destroyed crops.

These birds are very nomadic, and travel in flocks between habitats. They favor shallow freshwater wetlands, cultivated pastures, swamps, lagoons, and grasslands. During breeding season, these ibises will build a large, cup-shaped nest of sticks and reeds high up in trees over water. They are also known to nest in colonies, often together with the Australian white ibis. For this reason, they are easily spotted standing in the high branches of bare trees, creating a striking silhouette against the sky.

Many of the animals on O’Reilly covers are endangered; all of them are important to the world. To learn more about how you can help, go to animals.oreilly.com.

The cover image is from Woods Illustrated Natural History. The cover fonts are URW Typewriter and Guardian Sans. The text font is Adobe Minion Pro; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is Dalton Maag’s Ubuntu Mono.