‘There’s a bit of shagging going on’: worms and romance draw Sydney’s ibis from bins to soaked parks

As rain falls, earthworms move to the surface and Sydney’s ibises are flocking away from the bins to find the protein in the city’s parks. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian

Recent rains have driven the Australian white ibis away from our bins and into Sydney’s sodden parklands.

Known as the “bin chicken”, “tip turkey”, “sandwich snatcher” or “picnic pirate”, the much-maligned ibis is now congregating in large numbers in parks across Sydney – meeting to forage for food and to find a mate, according to bird expert Dr Gráinne Cleary.