Ahh, the Ibis. They didn’t ask to be born the bird version of Lord Voldemort, yet here we are. If you’ve been seeing a lot of these sinister-looking bin chickens lately, turns out it’s for a legit reason.
Birdlife Spokesman Sean Dooley told the SMH the heightened presence of bin chickens in urban areas is being caused by the continuing Australian drought.
In fact, this birdy bin-diver wasn’t always a fan of sticking its beak into your left-over bag of Twisties. They actually used to live around the Murray-Darling Basin in rural NSW, an area that’s since become less inhabitable for them because, well… climate change.
Perhaps that’s why we find the Ibis so alarmingly odd – was such a rustic-chic bird ever really meant to make an appearance in our cities?
Dooley says White Ibises used to eat yabbies, worms, grasshoppers. Like a fitspo influencer, sans the looks.
We give the Ibis and their weird-ass beaks all the hate but isn’t it slightly inspirational that this species has learnt to adapt with the horrific effects of climate change? Their home literally got too arid and so now they brave giant crowds of people to simply exist.
On the one hand, the Ibis is an image of strength and perseverance and on the other, it’s symbolic of the fact that things are going incredibly f*cked for Australia’s ecosystem. Oh, the dichotomy.
Dooley says that birds are an indicator of how our environment’s faring. In this case, he says the Ibis “…show the disturbance we’re having right across the country.”
But if this ground-breaking information hasn’t opened up your world just a tad, perhaps this will: there’s a list of “top 10 most seen birds” in Australia and while we’re unsure why such a list exists, we do know one thing: this year the Ibis has made their debut. They’ve taken 10th place. We just wish they didn’t have to.
Aussies have a weird obsession with birds yet we seem to only be keen on them when they’re “cute” or port pretty colours. So next time you see a less-than-attractive Ibis, give it some cred. It’s just out there trying to survive the grips of climate change like the rest of us.