It prefers high rainfall (>700 mm p.a.), sour and alpine grasslands, characterised by an absence of trees and a short, dense grass sward. It also occurs in lightly wooded and relatively arid country. It forages preferentially on recently burned ground, also using unburnt natural grassland, cultivated pastures, reaped maize fields and ploughed areas. It has a varied diet, mainly consisting of insects and other terrestrial invertebrates. Tends to avoid marshy areas (Kopij 2001). It has high nesting success on safe, undisturbed cliffs.

Geronticus calvus is restricted to mesic grasslands in Lesotho, north-east South Africa and west Eswatini. The core range lies in the north-eastern Free State, Mpumalanga and the KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg. It was previously widespread in the Eastern Cape and extended into the Northern Cape (Colyn et al. 2020) but the the south and south-western parts of its historical range had contracted considerably by the first half of the 20th Century (Siegfried 1971). Colyn et al. (2020) estimated the reduction in range at 49% between the historical (1930-1999 records) and recent (post-2000) distribution of breeding colonies. Most of this contraction occurred prior to 1970 (Siegfried 1971, Manry 1985), and Lee et al. (in prep.) found no evidence for a change in the extent of occurrence (EOO) between the two Southern African Bird Atlas Projects (SABAP1, 1987-1992, and SABAP2, 2007-present), nor within the second atlas period. There is evidence that it is starting to recolonise the Eastern Cape area from Lesotho (Boshoff and van Niekerk 2007, Colyn et al. 2020, Lee et al. in prep.). The current breeding EOO, based on the information in Colyn et al. (2020) and using a convex hull to derive the minimum convex polygon (IUCN 2022), is 228,000 km².

Most, 75%, of current breeding colonies are in South Africa, with 25% in Lesotho and less than one percent in Eswatini (Colyn et al. 2020). The BirdLife South Africa monitoring database has information on 319 colonies monitored since 2000, of which 26 are recorded as abandoned (Lee et al. in prep.). New colonies are regularly found and some small abandoned colonies have subsequently been recolonised (Lee et al. in prep.) and it is uncertain that there is any decline in the species' area of occupancy (AOO) as measured in the breeding season. The AOO has not been accurately quantified at the correct scale, however the area of buffered colonies using that suggest by Colyn et al. (2020) would exceed 20,000 km².

Climate change is predicted to affect suitability of the northern and western edge of the distribution with projected changes leading to a 25.7% range contraction by 2050 here while more suitable conditions will extend further westwards at the southern edge of the range into the Western Cape, though only by 2.5% to 2050 (Colyn et al. 2020). Habitat association modelling estimates that there has been a 14.3% decline in suitable habitat since 1990 (Colyn et al. 2020), and it is estimated that there is an ongoing decline in the area and quality of suitable habitat.

Conservation Actions Underway
CITES Appendix II. It was listed regionally as Vulnerable in 2015 (Henderson 2015), matching the previous global assessment (BirdLife International 2016). A Species Action Plan was developed by BirdLife South Africa (BLSA) in 2016 (Colyn 2016). It has full legal protection in South Africa where it breeds in several protected areas. In Eswatini, Malolotja Nature Reserve holds a breeding colony. In Lesotho, it is recorded from Setlabathebe National Park.
Monitoring of breeding sites commenced in the mid-1960s (Siegfried 1966, Pocock and Urs 1967, Siegfried and Milstein 1970, Siegfried 1971, Manry 1985) and has continued, with BLSA conducting formal colony monitoring since 2007 to assess population trends (Henderson 2015). There is now a coordinated network of citizen scientists, and records from throughout the year are now compiled within a BLSA Southern Bald Ibis database (Lee et al. in prep). In addition data on the presence and abundance of the species has been collected in the two Southern African Bird Atlas Projects (SABAP1, 1987-1992, and SABAP2, 2007-present). Colyn et al. (2020) reassessed the breeding distribution, while Lee et al. (in prep.) assessed population trend between 1987-2021 accounting for individuals not present at breeding colonies. Studies of the ecology of the species have also been completed (Kopij 1998a, 1998b, 2001, Kopij et al. 2000) and the species was included in an assessment of the climate susceptibility of grassland and fynbos birds (Huntley and Barnard 2012).
An educational awareness programme commenced in 2016 across schools in South Africa in its core range to help reduce disturbance and the collecting of eggs and chicks (R. Colyn in litt. 2016). Roosts on pylons result in both the mortality of some birds and faults in powerlines, thus it has been recommended that bird guards be installed on the most affected pylons and anti-collision devices be fitted to the earth wire near roost sites (van Rooyen 2005). In Lesotho local people are trained to assist in an ecotourism venture at the remaining colonies resulting in a cessation of hunting birds for belief-based use (Anon. 2014). Artificial breeding structures have been constructed and successfully used at Ingula Nature Reserve in South Africa to mitigate the loss of a breeding colony due to the creation of a new dam (Ganz 2021).

Conservation Actions Proposed
Conduct surveys to assess its status in Lesotho. Initiate range-wide monitoring to help clarify population trends. Protect as many of the larger breeding colonies and feeding areas as possible. Provide incentives for adopting ibis-favourable farming practices. Assess the impact of fitting bird guards and anti-collision devices to powerlines. Assess and compile best practice grassland management guidelines for high altitude areas in southern Africa (R. Colyn in litt. 2016). Conduct studies to assess the impact of agricultural pesticide use on resident Southern Bald Ibis (R. Colyn in litt. 2016).