We have a phenomenon here in Australia where sulphur crested cockatoos are learning to open wheelie bins and to use drinking fountains
They are intelligent birds. We feed ours a bit of grain every day and they always come on time.
There is a down side… they eat our oranges… I have to cover the fruit with mesh bags.
Sulphur crested cockies are not native where I live - there’s a few tiny scattered populations around Perth - escaped cage birds, or their descendants…
But we do get corellas (little corella) here - and they have learned how to open wheelie bins here… I don’t really know why they’re called “little corella” because they’re bigger than the other common cockatoo here - the pink and grey galah.. Corellas thrive in man made environments… There’s probably too many of them I reckon…
Other cockatoos we get around here are Carnaby’s white tailed black cockatoo, and the red-tailed black cockatoo… They’re quite a bit bigger than corellas or galahs, and a tad bigger than sulphur crested cockies… Black cockies are usually not an agricultural pest - except maybe for orchardists - they mostly eat the seeds from gum nuts, and they also love pine cone nuts…
And - ibis like to follow corellas about - so they can take advantage of opened wheelie bins… A “colloquial” term for these (Australian white ibis) is “bin chicken” - which I think unfair - they’re clever and resourceful and adapting well to live alongside humans - they used to just be lumped alongside African white ibis as “sacred ibis” as the ancient Egyptians worshipped them… But DNA tests have shown them to be different species, even though they’re nearly identical.
We also get straw necked ibis, and glossy ibis around, but the white ibis is more common…
Note : one colloquial term downunder, for a wheat farmer, is “cockie farmer” because their paddocks are usually plagued with huge flocks of cockatoos… Insane - they’re allowed to “cull” them - but - not capture them and export them live, overseas, for the lucrative international parrot trade… It would kill two birds with one stone, i.e. flood the market with legally, and responsibly, and humanely and overseen, captured cockatoos - thus making it less attractive to the unscrupulous smugglers who drug parrots and put them in PVC pipes - most die in transit…
Back in September - a whole flock (30-40)of Carnaby’s white tailed black cockatoo decided to get a drink in the birdbath in my front yard :
Hey, that dog video is marvellous.
But not self trained like the birds.
There are 2 varieties of corella… long billed corella
and little corella
We have ibis too, especially when it is wet.
Not sure which variety of ibis that is?
At dusk they form huge flocks and fly in a V formation to their roost.
Neither the corella nor ibis get at our bins.
I always wondered why farmers were called cockies.
Looks like straw necked ibis :
The problem in our region is seagulls. They open the bins to look for food. Now the pools are open they have started using them for drinking water even though its got chlorine in.
I read items in the uk news where they are attacking holiday makers for food.
Its been a big problem since we started feeding them or leaving scraps of waste at seaside locations.
My wife feeds the small birds on our terrace but I try to stop her in the restos as it only encourages.
We need a mass cul to get rid of them.
I think you are right… they might be young birds without the straw neck
We have white ibis too ( look like sacred ibis)
Sometimes they mix.
They are at all our beaches. Clean up food scraps. Sometimes come inland when weather is rough.
