In a time of general plague where the streets have been vacated by humans due to miasma (this pandemic is genuinely caused by miasma as it is an aerosol borne virus; it's just that the original theory was wrong), great volumes of the built environment which have been vacated have been subsequently invaded by nature which cares not for the rules of spaces.
I have seen video on the internet of racoons, bears, cats, stags, and even tigers, which have decided that without the immediate threat of humans in the streets they can go nuts and have their own raves. In my own part of the world, that means that birds have decided to have their own private raves and go woo-hooing in the streets. I have personally seen galahs, cockatoos, ravens, rainbow lorikeets, possibly a flock of Eastern Rosella, and Sydney's famous Ibises.
I think that Ibises are unjustly maligned.
There is a flock of about 60 Ibises in Marayong which particularly like to travel between Quakers Court and the car park behind the shops at Marayong Station. I have no idea where they go to sleep at night but I suspect that they like Marayong as a suburb because Marayong has quite a long series of connected parks and a creek; which is some kind of Ibises' paradise.
To give them their proper name, Superb Ibises can be found all over Sydney and they have done remarkably well for themselves. Yet probably because of their silvery colours, Ibises have a reputation for being dirty, which just isn't fair. They have a reputation for being noisy, which isn't fair because they are birds; they have a reputation for eating garbage, which isn't fair because they are just making use of the facilities of the built environment which we have created. Ibises have the nickname of the "Bin Chicken" which although being very very Australian because we like to cut down everything, it also isn't really fair either. We just don't give this kind of name to Rainbow Lorikeets even though they are just colourful hoodlums; nor do we give this kind of name to Magpies even though they will openly attack us and create crimson tides from our heads.
The conception of a city has maybe only been on the continent of Australia for the past 200 years. The white peoples' notion that nature was something to be conquered and scraped away is vastly different to first peoples' notion that nature should be lived in harmony with and in and around. Nobody ever told the Ibises that the expectations were changing and so they are still quite timid around people in comparison with other birds. There are flocks of galahs and cockatoos which in comparison, will let people walk straight through them because they don't care. Likewise there are flocks of pigeons, rainbow lorikeets, and Australian Ravens which also will just stare at you while you walk on by. We have magpies which are genuinely cantankerous and will swoop at you and will draw blood, if they think that their nests are being attacked. Ibises though, are relatively calm things; albeit a wee bit noisy.
If you were walking along and found a ten dollar note on the footpath, then you'd probably think that was pretty ace. Imagine that you are an Ibis and you don't care about ten dollar notes but bits of scrap food that tastes amazing and was just left laying around everywhere. You'd have a field day and think that you were all of that and a bag of chips, or the king of town. That's basically what we leave out for the Ibises; with no explanation or anything.
It might be because our usual interactions with Ibises only ever seems to be watching them raiding the rubbish that we have left behind, or making deeply functional and utilitarian noises, that our impressions of them are so hideously tainted.
The truth is that with their long necks, even longer beaks, and surprisingly massive wingspan, when they are up in the sky they are incredibly graceful. This is most likely where they got their proper name of Superb Ibis from because, they are.
There is a kind of secluded valley near Mosman Wharf with quite a nice park at the bottom and because it is virtually impossible to build houses on and to scrape away nature, it remains more of an accurate representation of what Sydney might have been like before white people showed up. The Ibises on the other hand, don't really care about what its civic purpose is and instead have more fun with the natural environment and the fly dynamics of air.
Probably because of the shape of the landscape and the fact that there is an open patch of land at the bottom which is warmed by the sun, that park spontaneously creates rotating thermals of rising air. The Ibises which are excellent gliders, they will hitch a ride inside the thermals and slowly rise up with the rising air. You can sometimes see dozens of them at once, all going around effortlessly like a Ibis carousel; slowly, upwards, to the tune of some unknown song which they know the words.
From what I have observed, Ibises are highly social creatures which appear to enjoy their own company and dare I say it, engage in play with each other. I've seen what I think is a game of peekaboo played by Ibises behind trees, which I would dismiss if it was isolated but it keeps on happening.
I for one actually like the carefree attitude of the Ibises; that they eat whatever they can find, that they go wherever they like, and that they hang about and play in and around wherever they are. When they are up in the sky, they look like superb pieces of engineering which is why they got that moniker in the first place. I think that the Superb Ibis is unjustly maligned but I can see how the name "Bin Chicken" might be a sign of affection. If there was a state/city bird, then the Superb Ibis should be Sydney's. They're ace.
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