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EPIB Trail
Volume 12, Issue 3
Semester in Australia: Volume 3 White Ibis (Threskiornis molucca) Ella Grande
By Ella Grande As my time in Australia comes to an end, so must my Trail articles! Picking my final animal for this issue was tough. I really could not decide who to choose; wombats, platypus, Tasmanian devils, dingoes, or cassowaries. They’re all so interesting. However, those animals are all very loved and celebrated. So, I decided to pick a more infamous creature. To the Australians, the White Ibis (Threskiornis molucca) is nothing but a pest and a scavenger, like a seagull or a pigeon. Constantly rummaging through trash bins for a quick bite, their beautiful white feathers are often dirty and brown. For that reason, the Australians nicknamed these guys “bin chickens.” At any outdoor cafe in Sydney, you’re bound to witness the employees chasing away these birds from customers trying to enjoy a meal. I even had a White Ibis land on my table and steal some lettuce from my salad. They aren’t shy. The dislike for them even lead to the creation of a Facebook event in 2016 titled “International Glare at Ibies Day” where people gathered in the local park to “glare and show your general distaste” towards them (Allatson and Cooper, 2018). However, as much as people hate the White Ibis, there’s the same amount of people on the other side that love them (like me). They are incorporated in pop culture and art all over Australia, being found on T-shirts and murals. They even got second place in 2017 for Australia’s Bird of the Year which lead to a news article titled: “Ibis lovers outraged over shock Bird of the Year result” (Foster, 2017). So, it’s quite the lovehate relationship here in the land down under. Regardless of the public opinion, I find the White Ibis to be quite interesting because they haven’t always been the pesky trash pickers that they are today. With the rapid urbanization of the Australian coasts, cities popped up everywhere. This forced the current wildlife to adapt to these new conditions. The White Ibis was originally a wetland
