Friday Dilemma: pest or downtrodden beauty?

john says:

12:20pm | 09/12/11

Soon those Ibises will have their day:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hplpQt424Ls&feature=related

Ibis hater says:

12:26pm | 09/12/11

A white Ibis ate the fish in my pond.

marley says:

12:44pm | 09/12/11

Where I live, they’re in their native habitat.  Wetlands.  They don’t bother anyone, and they make a nice change from moorhens - now those are ugly, annoying, messy birds.

Interested observer says:

01:05pm | 09/12/11

I drive past flocks of ibises foraging through the low lying paddocks and consider them a beautiful adornment to the landscape. I had never seen an ibis in a city environment and can well believe they are unwelcome scavengers. Everything in its own place!  I doubt that ibis rate at the same level as crows as far as nuisances.

S.L says:

01:15pm | 09/12/11

Can they be taught to get rid of Indian Minor birds?

Simon says:

01:19pm | 09/12/11

if they steal your maccas they’d be doing you a favour but i suspect that giving them your maccas could amount to animal cruelty. oh well, ibis sandwich anyone ?

JS says:

01:22pm | 09/12/11

Bin scabs

Dave says:

01:27pm | 09/12/11

I quite like them. The ones that live around my place are a nice bright white colour. THe real problem is you city folk just dont keep em clean or feed em properly. They do make a noise when they honk though. Better than peacocks, anyway…

Damn those pesky birds they stole my ciggie says:

01:42pm | 09/12/11

What are we proud of in Australia - the abilty to make a go of it regardless of circumstance and the ability to then thrive a few years later.

The ibis should be the national bird. I love you guys and the Maggies and the Currawong and all birds.

To those calling them filthy disease carriers, speak for youselves! You carry the black plague among other things, stop being an arrogant human and start being part of the beautiful and amazing system of life that surrounds us all.

Elli says:

01:51pm | 09/12/11

I have always loved the silhouette that a flock of ibis flying overhead makes with those long beaks. Unmistakable!

Jade says:

02:22pm | 09/12/11

They eat baby cane toads. I like the things… even if they are scabs! But then so are crows

Dan Webster says:

02:25pm | 09/12/11

Ibis are cool because they don’t give a S_ _ _.

I saw a Ibis at Dreamworld running along (being chased by other Ibis) with a red, foot long, hot dog sausage hanging out of it’s beak (swinging back and forth as it ran), It looked like it had a big tongue and it cracked me up.

I haven’t seen any of our other birds try to entertain like the Ibis does (maybe seagulls but they come across as a bit stupid).

Ibis are so cool they could own the internet (even more than cats do) but as I said Ibis don’t give a S_ _ _, so they don’t bother.

Alf says:

02:37pm | 09/12/11

They are the Peter Slipper of birdlife.

iansand says:

03:04pm | 09/12/11

What I don’t understand is why, given their diets, they are not plummeting from the sky in their millions after suffering coronaries.

Dave says:

04:26pm | 09/12/11

Who said that we muster sympathy for scruff balls like Lindsay Lohan?

Kika says:

04:41pm | 09/12/11

Ibis (or Ibi as we call them - like Platypi) are our team mascot. We love the dirty little things. It’s not their fault. They are natural scavangers and we’ve taken away their natural habitat. They’ve resorted to scumming from us.

Amy says:

06:20pm | 09/12/11

The ibi (?) in Perth are lovely and white and don’t smell (although they will completely empty a backyard pond of goldfish!). Don’t know about the other states but we’d be happy to swap your Ibisses (?) for some of our mine cashed up bogans. They also eat lots of Maccas… you’ll hardly know the difference.

Rachel d says:

09:11pm | 09/12/11

Dump chooks

jnomanh says:

03:15am | 10/12/11

Where I live, Can they be taught to get rid of Indian Minor birds?

holden says:

12:54pm | 10/12/11

I’m a real Australian, and I think we should shoot them all so as to give the homeless kids a better crack at the contents of the dump-trucks and rubbish bins. The starving street kids are more important, and it is not fair that we attach more importance to a bird over the Nation’s children.
And for the uneducated among you, the plural of “Ibis” is
“Thousands of the bastards!”.

marley says:

04:07pm | 10/12/11

I think everyone should show a bit more respect for the Ibis.  After all, the ibis-headed Egyptian god Thoth got to sit in judgement on the dead.  How will you feel if one of these guys is at your bedside with a notebook listing all the cigarette ends and lousy burgers you fed him?

DragonLass says:

06:55pm | 10/12/11

Well if people didn’t litter, then they wouldn’t be so prevalent in cities.  Their mass numbers are a direct by-product of the general filth that exists in cities. (just like rats)

They are also a fantastic example of evolution in action.  With their fantastic long beaks they have adapted so well to a city existence.  Their ability to get their beaks into rubbish bins and the like to find food are a wonderful adaptation.  Really, I take my hat off to them. 

And at least they are native, unlike pigeons or indian mynahs.

Mark says:

08:44pm | 10/12/11

Well if it was not for humans overpopulating they would be able to live naturally but as humans are intruding on the enviroment what do you expect them to do, everything else has houses on it or has been cultivated (and I live in a rural area).