Recent Sydney Individuals:

[highlyeccentric]

1. Man wearing bicycle helmet who ascended our stairs shouting “hey! Hey
   Soph!” When Soph did not respond, he caught sight of me, and yelled “hey
   lady! Do you know what unit Soph lives in?”
   
   I told him not here, and next door is three guys. Apparently Soph is a long
   haired “young gent”. I don’t think Soph is likely to be any of our SEAsian
   neighbours, but as they were out I told him i supposed it COULD be the guys
   next door. The man insisted he had seen Soph enter our complex, but
   reluctantly retreated.
   
   I wonder if Soph might be either themself, or causally related to the next,
   backdated, Individual, seen some months ago:
   
   2. Man who moved our balcony furniture. Man appeared about 7.45am: scruffy,
   brown-gingery hair, large satchel. I initially supposed he was a delivery
   guy, looking for a unit number. He has got to the non-opening side of our
   sliding door when I got up to go redirect him. He saw me, froze. Panicked.
   Turned tail and descended the stairs.
   
   I was too busy looking at where he had BEEN (moving our furniture) to
   register whether he went in to next door (who are half a flight or stairs
   down) or if he descended to the street.
   
   3. Unfortunate person whose paper shopping bag tore in the middle of the
   library, spilling chocolate supplies and smashing a jar of hoi sin sauce.
   
   Alas, that unfortunate person was me.’
   
   3.b. One seagull and three ibises swearing at each other concerning
   territorial rights to a large bin. (Depicted)
   

Comments

[sabotabby]

Ibises just hang out like that??? not anywhere special?

[highlyeccentric]

Oh yeah. The noble bin chicken! They like parks, and alleys / suburban streets with plenty of garbage bins.

They’ve been driven out of their inland wetlands by climate change, clustering instead on the coast. Coastal parks, especially right on the water, may provide some of their natural diet, although in Sydney the river banks are either built up or polluted. Hence they rejoice in the delicious, less nutritious, bounty of the urban bins.

A whole series of special designs has sprung up in Australia for public bins, in order to ibis-proof them.

I can’t find a picture of an ibis-proof bin, but please enjoy this article’s collection of ibis art: https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-rise-of-the-bin-chicken-a-totem-for-modern-australia-100673 (and roll eyes at its cringey use of “totem”).

[sabotabby]

They're so beautiful and weird looking. Though I guess people from other countries react weirdly to our raccoons.

[highlyeccentric]

Oh we love the for being weird. Weird beautiful bin-birdies.

What I really did a double-take over was when I was in Amsterdam, walking down a street after the market had closed, and discovered that in Amsterdam, grey herons are urban scavengers.