How many Ibises?

How many Ibises can you find?
Robin found 9.

[Michele] On Friday during Robin's ballet class in Innisfail, I took Lorna (Gavin's mum) to the Warrina Lakes park.  This park has many wonderful birds around the lakes.  The different bird songs combine together into an impressive cacophony.  But it wasn't just the bird song that impressed us.

When Lorna directed me to look up in the tree I couldn't believe the scene.  A flock of gigantic and seemingly ungraceful Australian White Ibises sitting up in the tree.  Surely those birds can't fly up that high!  I mean, c'mon, they are huge!  Sure even ungainly chooks can fly but you don't find chooks 80 feet up in trees.  

As I approached closer, the gigantic Ibises dispelled my doubts by actually flying right in front of my eyes from branch to branch. 

And wait, there is more.  When they stretch their wings, they flash a cool red streak that runs along their upper parts of their wings. 

I did not capture the red streak with my camera so I've shamelessly stolen a photo (below) from the internet.  This photo also confirms their ability to fly.  

Simi-related because it has to do with birds but really has nothing to do with Ibises:  We also recently learned that a bird that screeches near our house at night is called a Plover.  I find it amazing that a bird with such a pleasant sounding name can create such a unpleasant noise. This has inspired a poem: "Red rover, red rover, please shut up that plover."

This completes this rather random blog.  Let's all hope that future blogs contain a bit more substance and entertainment value.