If you’re ever visiting Australia, you’ll see plenty of large black and white birds in rural and urban areas cruising around, often raiding rubbish bins for food.
The Australian White Ibis (scientific name Threskiornis molucca) has unfortunately, picked up the nickname of Bin Chickens. You might fight with them for your lunch sometime.
Anyway, many people have a love/hate relationship with these birds. Aviator Bert Hinkler, who was the first person to fly from England to Australia, marvelled at how these birds, while looking pretty clumsy on the ground, looked quite elegant when flying around in the skies.
But most people don’t like it when they come over to keep you company, eyeing off your food.
This is what they look like – a distinctive black head and beak on top of a white body. They’re not dangerous like the mythical Drop Bear, but keep an eye out for them as they can be annoying than a seagull at the beach who wants to separate you from your hot chips.
Anyway, bin chickens have become a pest in public places. They pretty smart and know how to sound out a free feed better than your tight-arse relative looking to save money by leaching your dinner (pardon the Australian Slang).
You will see plenty of signs saying don’t feed the ibis. They really don’t need your food, they score plenty from every rubbish bin you’ll sight in Australia.
Yep, you don’t need any more reminding – don’t feed the ibis!
But this got me thinking. Thousands of visitors are coming to Brisbane for the 2032 Olympics. That’s quite a while away. The organising committee haven’t come up with a mascot, which is mandatory for every Olympic Games. Mascots are usually some native animal that everyone knows for two weeks, but then is completely forgotten once the Olympic flag is lowered and the flame has been extinguished.
So that’s why I’m getting in early to see if the organising committee like my idea and decide to pay me a tonne of royalties.
I propose that the bin chicken should be the official mascot of the Brisbane 2032 Olympics.
Bin Chickens for Brisbane 2032!
I’m a bit torn when it comes to names. To make it really Aussie, I’m thinking that the mascot should be called either Bruce, Bazza, Bevan or Bogan the Bin Chicken!
Here is a dodgy graphic I’ve come up all by myself below!
Brisbane 2032. The Bin Chicken Olympics
So there you go. What do you think? Does the bin chicken mascot ‘have wings’? Boom boom!
Let me know.
If the organising committee don’t like it, that’s fine. I’ll start up my own unofficial mascot. Just remember for the Sydney 2000 Olympics, the official mascots of Syd (platypus), Ollie (kookaburra) and Millie (echidna) were completely upstaged by Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat, created by Sydney cartoonist Paul Newell with Roy and HG from the Australian Channel Seven sports/comedy television program The Dream with Roy and HG.
So you just never know!
Oh, Anthony, you’ve really cracked me up with your proposal for the Brisbane 2032 Olympics mascot. Bazza the Bin Chicken sure has a certain charm to it, I must admit. I can already picture the crowds of international visitors scratching their heads and wondering what on earth a bin chicken is!
But you know what? I think you’re onto something here. Imagine the marketing possibilities! Bin chicken plush toys, bin chicken-themed merchandise, and even events centered around bin chickens. It’ll be a revolution! And just think of the royalties that could come your way. You’ll be rolling in bins of cash, my friend.
And that dodgy graphic you made? It’s pure artistic brilliance!
Cheers,
Femi.
I just read this article about the bin chicken being a potential mascot for the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games. I think it’s a really interesting idea! I know that bin chickens aren’t the most popular birds, but I think they’re actually pretty cool. They’re resilient and resourceful, and they’re a native Australian bird. I think it would be really unique and memorable to have a bin chicken mascot for the games.
I’m not sure if it will actually happen, but I think it’s a great idea.🤣