Australian White Ibis ~ wetland to urbanland
The Australian White Ibis (Threskiornis molucca), also known as the Sacred Ibis, is a protected native bird of Australia under the State Wildlife Nature Conservation Act 1992. Harming an ibis is considered a serious offence.
Sadly, The Australian White Ibis has become a very unpopular bird due to its urban migration and disturbance to the community. These birds have earned themselves several nicknames, such as bin chicken, tip turkey, dumpster diver, foul fowl, rubbish raptor, dump chook and winged rubbish rat, due to their well-known scavenging and pesty habits in urban environments.
Characteristics
Length: 75cm
Height: 60 – 75 cm
Weight: 1.5kg
Wingspan: up to 1.25m
Females are slightly smaller than males and have shorter bills.
The appearance of The Australian White Ibis is predominately white plumage. However, they also have a tuft of cream plumage at the base of their neck and a few delicate black tail feathers. In addition, they have a characteristic black vulture-like featherless head and neck, with a long, downward-curved bill.
During the breeding season, a small patch of skin under their wings changes from light pink to dark red, as does the skin pigmentation on the back of their head.
Diet
Another favourite land and terrestrial foods are insects, snails, frogs, and seafood. Their long bill is designed for digging and prising open mussel shells. They are also particularly partial to human food scraps.
Habitat
Their ideal habitat is wetlands, grasslands, and floodplains throughout Australia, except Tasmania. They live in large colonies of more than 1000 birds and are a very adaptable bird species, hence their unfortunate adaptation from wetland to urban land. They have traded their wetland homes as they no longer are adequate for their needs.
Attributes
The Ibis is a beautiful bird. It has been noted that they play an essential role in their natural habitats. Furthermore, they are considered a natural pest controller because they prey on small insects and grubs. As a result, many farmers in some regional areas welcome the Ibis to clean up their farms from insects that would otherwise eat their crops.
The Australian White Ibis are survivors. Many have lost their natural habitats, and instead of becoming extinct, these birds have adapted to urban living and breeding in cities alongside people and domestic animals.
BAD RAP
Consequently, they have had to adapt to city life for survival. They have become a nuisance in cities as they fossick through human waste bins searching for food. It is unknown why, but studies have revealed that the loss of their preferred wetland habitats and less food availability has forced the birds to flee and seek shelter and food in urban areas. Urban living provides easy access for the Ibis to scavenge on human rubbish for survival. They are noisy and smelly, and the mess from their droppings soil park benches, grass and pavements, and they frequently harass people for food.
Scavengers
Subsequently, they have traded their natural wetland habitats of feasting on frogs and small fish in local waterways to urban living and scavenging human waste from overflowing rubbish bins. Long-term studies have revealed that the White Ibis has adapted to urban living and has little fear of people, cars, and other predators, such as dogs and cats.
They become adept at using their long pointy bills to prise open discarded food boxes, plastic food containers and bags, and burrow deep inside the overflowing domestic garbage and wheelie bins. As a result, many of the bins are overflowing onto the ground.
Their population has increased, with more and more congregating around rubbish bins in suburbs and parks. They are incredibly annoying when people sit on park benches eating, and Ibis stands close by begging and may often snatch food from people. Bird strikes have become a problem around airports.
Surry Hills, Sydney.
Disease
There are also possible health risks for people and domestic animals. The Ibis is a known carrier of many bacterial and viral diseases—such as salmonella, giardia, and avian influenza. There are no known reported cases of Ibis to human transmission disease to date, but as long as they remain in the urban environments, they pose a potential disease risk.
Prevention
Many techniques have been tried to discourage and remove the Ibis from urban areas. Strategies include installing bird spikes to deter birds from landing and wire strands to make perching unstable. Bright lights shining at night to prevent roosting, plus electrified tracks that emit irritating pulses to deter perching, were also tried. Surprisingly, none of these have worked. In addition, it is illegal to shoot or cull the Ibis. Instead, permits are required to remove nests, chicks and eggs.
The best and most effective management strategy is not feeding the Ibis.
Preventing Ibis access to water and food scraps in urban environments is recommended. The best practice is placing food scraps in park bins with closed lids. Therefore, reduce areas with perches or suitable nesting places to discourage birds from nesting. Finally, never harm or harass birds.
Conservation
The Australian White Ibis population is decreasing in their natural wetland and adapted urbanland habitats.
https://australian.museum/learn/animals/birds/australian-white-ibis/
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