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In your country, what "common" animals are tourists most excited to see? (lemmy.blahaj.zone)

submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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It has always amused me that the tourists to the US that I’ve spoken to are often very excited to see raccoons, and disappointed if they don’t see them before they leave.

Some others I’ve noticed on the east coast of the US are blue jays and cardinals. Boy, do people get excited about those if they’ve never seen them before! Very pretty birds of course, just very easy to get used to and see as uninteresting as well.

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[–] jagungal@lemmy.world 36 points 5 months ago (5 children)

Australian white ibises. They're kinda like the Australian equivalent to a raccoon in the US; they eat rubbish and their roosts stink because they tend to congregate in a single tree and then shit everywhere. But they are quite unique looking birds: long beaks, black heads and white plumage. So the tourists find them quite interesting and the locals call them bin chickens.

An Australian white ibis, a bird with white feathers, black head, long legs, and a long beak.

[–] JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca 20 points 5 months ago

I was one of the fascinated tourists taking a million pictures of bin chickens. But, I was at least aware of it... because I remember at the time joking with my wife that the locals were laughing at us basically taking pictures of pigeons/seagulls.

[–] s7ryph@kbin.social 11 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Ah the Bin Chicken

[–] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 months ago

I have never heard of this before, and now I wonder whether we shouldnt be encouraging more animals to consume our waste.

[–] multifariace@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago

It looks like our White Ibis and Wood Storks were crossed.

[–] federalreverse@feddit.de 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

They look like the wading birds I liked seeing so much in Spanish rice paddies.

[–] jagungal@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago

I'm not surprised, I'm pretty sure they're wetland birds too.