Watch the birdie
Bin chickens are taking over our city. Are we OK with that?
I made a video in the vicinity of Brisbane City Hall the other day and posted it as a short on my YouTube account.
I didn’t notice it until a commenter pointed out that it’d been crashed by an ibis.
If you are so minded, you can have a look here and see if you can spot it.
Meanwhile, Adrian Schrinner (who, according to the ABC on election night “90 per cent of Australians have never heard of) has posted an image (above) on social media, saying:
“Bluey called. She wants her version of the Brisbane City Council logo back! We asked ChatGPT to give our Council logo a cheeky makeover in true Brisbane style — ibis included. What do you think, should we make this the official version?”
All this has me thinking about the ibis and its Brisbane connections.
So, following the Lord Mayor’s example, I consulted ChatGPT, and typed in: “Tell me briefly about the ibis, why it is called a ‘bin chicken’ and its connection to Brisbane, Australia.”
Here (with a few corrections from American to Australian English but bold type intact) is what the AI had to say:
The ibis, specifically the Australian white ibis (Threskiornis molucca), is a native bird known for its long, curved beak and scavenging behaviour. It’s nicknamed the “bin chicken” because in many urban areas — especially in cities like Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne — it’s often seen rummaging through garbage bins for food. This behaviour developed as the ibis adapted to urban environments due to habitat loss and droughts in inland Australia.
Connection to Brisbane:
Brisbane has become one of the ibis’s urban strongholds, with the bird being both loved and loathed.
The ibis has become somewhat of a local cultural icon, appearing in memes, merchandise and satirical art.
It’s even featured in Brisbane’s local humour and festivals, symbolising the quirky wildlife adaptation to city life.
Does that sum it up?
Do you feel an affinity with the ibis, or would you rather they weren’t so prevalent in the city?
And how long before we see some character based on bin chicken anointed as a mascot for the 2032 Olympic Games?
P.S. On the subject of Bluey, is the show about to be taxed out of the United States? Would that be a (Story) bridge too far for Donald Trump?
Mister Brisbane is free to read, but if you appreciate what I’m doing here, and/or
at The Wrinkle and Radio Bert, you can buy me a coffee.
Apart from its unsightly appearance, it’s poorly behaviour, it’s horrible honking and the fact that most other birds are less offensive I don’t really see a problem with it.
No affinity with the ibis, but my thoughts differ as to why they are in urban areas. That is, I don’t agree in total with “… it’s often seen rummaging through garbage bins for food. This behaviour developed as the ibis adapted to urban environments due to habitat loss and droughts in inland Australia”. Particularly the last part. That is, it was pointed out to me many years ago that it was the repurposing of many tips/waste stations in SE QLD that saw the ibis adapt to more urban and suburban areas, as going back 30 years, they were almost exclusive to tips on the Gold Coast and when they were seen on occasion in the city/Botanical Gardens, they were still seen as an exotic bird. I don’t think they’ve been forced from the inland to the coastline by droughts, as they’d always been on the coastline, they were just in the tips before the tips were repurposed as sporting fields.