Backyard visitors
City living is no picnic for this displaced bird, but you have to admire its amazing adaptability,
Colloquially known as the ‘bin chicken’, ‘picnic pirate’ and ‘tip turkey’, the Australian white ibis has crept into our urban psyche and populated digital media, potentially supplanting the emu, kangaroo and koala as Australia’s most prominent icon.
This amazingly adaptable waterbird has become as much a symbol of environmental degradation to Australians as the sacred ibis was a symbol of wisdom and writing to the ancient Egyptians.
Up and down the east coast, flocks of white ibis are occupying city parks and gardens in a desperate bid to survive an environmental crisis in their inland wetland habitats. Only three decades ago, ibis were rarely seen in urban areas, but prolonged drought and habitat loss has forced these large wading birds to overcome their fear of humans and establish breeding colonies in the heart of our cities. They nest around ponds and scavenge for food in garbage bins, picnic areas and landfill sites. Adapting their innate wetland foraging skills to the urban environment, they have learned to rip into plastic bags, open bin lids and deftly manipulate boxes of takeaway food.
With its bald head, scaly legs, wingspan greater than 1m, feathers that emit a musty odour, and attraction to rubbish bins, our native ibis has little appeal for most city dwellers. Yet the fact that the only way they can survive is by scavenging on the streets of our cities should be seen as a salutary message that our stewardship of our precious continent is shamefully inadequate.
The ibis population has crashed in the Macquarie Marshes Nature Reserve in New South Wales and other inland waterways under the management of government regulators over the past 30 years. Today, there are fewer than 5000 ibis to be found in their natural habitat. Sydney has twice that number, Brisbane has a further 5000,
and other cities and towns along the coast also host their own avian refugees.
The Australian white ibis is one of a handful of species that can adapt to urban life. So many others are unable to travel thousands of kilometres to ride out boom-and-bust cycles, fight off urban cats, use their beak to open packaging, and survive traffic and pollution. When we see these birds, we should admire their street smarts and think carefully about the conservation message they bring with them.