The mighty ibis did not win Australian bird of the year but it's still a winner | John Martin

It fell short of victory by a few hundred votes. For a bin chicken, that's something to celebrate

What happened? Am I missing something, do people actually "like" ibis? I know they didn't win, but hell, they came second - that's a win for the bin chicken, surely?!

I like ibis, and I've occasionally met people who admit to liking ibis, but overwhelmingly I hear and read comments from people expressing that they do not like ibis. Despite this, the Australian white ibis has become an icon - to individuals, music, documentaries and government. It's revered by our modern society like its cousin the Sacred Ibis was in ancient Egypt as the god Thoth. Of course, in this instance my interpretation of the word "revered" includes being the butt of many, many jokes and even more memes.