On Coochiemudlo Island, the Australian white ibis is both a familiar neighbour and a reminder that the way visitors handle rubbish can affect local wildlife.

Holiday crowds and discounted ferry travel can put extra pressure on foreshore bins, especially around beach picnic areas where food scraps are easily left behind.

When bins overflow, an easy meal may draw more ibis to places where people and birds already share limited space.

That matters most when bush stone-curlews are raising chicks.

These young birds face threats from several predators, and ibis may take a chick if the opportunity arises.

Seeing that happen, or even knowing it can, makes it hard for some residents to welcome another ibis near a curlew family.

Yet the Australian white ibis is a native bird, not an introduced pest, and some live on the island year-round.

Its natural habit of probing soil for insects can help control garden pests without relying on chemicals.

Redland City Council's Indigiscapes ranger has also noted that ibis can eat cane toads, an unusual ability among native animals.

Understanding the ibis diet makes the dilemma clearer: these adaptable birds take advantage of natural prey, but they also exploit food discarded by people.

The turning point is not whether ibis belong here, but whether human waste is making their presence harder for other wildlife to live with.

A full bin near a picnic table may look like a small inconvenience to visitors leaving for the ferry.

For a ground-nesting curlew family nearby, the consequences could be more serious.

Taking rubbish home when bins are full is a simple way for visitors to avoid adding to that pressure.

Keeping cats from roaming and giving curlew chicks space also helps reduce risks without treating native ibis as villains.

Residents may still shoo an ibis away from vulnerable chicks while appreciating the bird's place in the island ecosystem.

Those two instincts need not conflict when the aim is to give wildlife a fairer chance.

Watch an ibis lift off over Coochiemudlo's shoreline and its elegance is unmistakable; keeping the foreshore clean helps make room for that sight and for the curlews below.

Thank you Angela from 'Life on Coochiemudlo Island' for this article. 

Read the original article here.