Australian White Ibis

Probably no other bird arouses such diverse opinion as the Australian White Ibis. In urban areas, the bird is called ‘bin chicken’ or ‘tip turkey’, for its habit of scrounging for human waste at picnic grounds and rubbish tips. In farmland areas, parks and gardens, the bird is referred to as the ‘farmers friend’ for its practice of consuming large numbers of beetle larvae, locusts and other insects and for aerating the soil with its long, probing bill.

 

Historically, the Australian White Ibis was a wetland verge and grassland bird, seldom seen in urban areas. By draining wetlands and altering waterways, plus drought conditions, the bird it seems, has adapted to urban conditions to a degree that in some places it has become a pest. Its original diet of terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates, frogs and insects is now complemented, and in some cases replaced by human scraps.

(A number of ‘problem’ Ibis’ were relocated from the Healesville Sanctuary in the Yarra Ranges to the wetlands near Sale in East Gippsland. Three days later, most of them had returned to Healesville! In the 2017 Guardian/BirdLife ‘Bird of the Year Poll’, the Australian White Ibis came in second, behind the Magpie) 

 

The Australian White Ibis is a social bird, nearly always seen in small groups. Come breeding season, late winter to spring, they gather into large nesting colonies. Ibis rookeries appear on wetlands and large dams when often they will completely take over any suitable group of trees or vegetation on which to build their stick nests almost on top of one another. They appear to only breed in this fashion when the water level of their selected wetland is particularly high.

They form strong, long-lasting pair bonds and can live for more than 20 years. As they fly between feeding grounds, the Australian White Ibis will often form a v-shaped formation or skein, and they flap and glide in unison for efficiency.

The Australian White Ibis is widely distributed throughout the continent apart from the very arid interior, generally preferring inundated farmland, wetlands and swamps. They are also found in growing numbers in urban parks, gardens and rubbish tips. 

The Australian White Ibis (Threskiornis moluccus), is sometimes known as the Sacred Ibis in deference to the closely related African bird (Threskiornis aethiopicus). The Australian White Ibis is also closely related to the Straw-necked Ibis (Threskiornis spinicollis), a more abundant bird generally but seen less frequently in urban situations.

Australian White Ibis    -    Straw-necked Ibis    -    Glossy Ibis

(Australia has a third ibis species, the Glossy Ibis, a smaller bird seen far less often in Gippsland than the ‘white’ or the ‘straw-necked’)