Please enjoy this video of Kate McKinnon describing her first encounter with the “majestic” ibis, only to find out they are indeed just bin chickens.
Kate McKinnon sat down with Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon earlier this week to talk about all the weird and wonderful experiences she had while filming Stan’s upcoming Joe Exotic / Carole Baskin series JOE Vs. CAROLE — which premieres on March 4 — here in Oz.
While discussing Australia in a mannerism reminiscent to when I am zonked out of my mind, Kate gushed about seeing “the most beautiful bird” she had ever encountered.
“My first day [in Australia] I was walking on the street, and I saw what I thought was the most beautiful bird I’ve ever seen in my life,” she said, describing it to have a “long, elegant beak” and great, white wings.
“And I was like, ‘What is this… this majestic heron just loose in the street? My god, I’ve been blessed here! This is a sight!’”
Eyes wide and arms gesticulating in what I can only describe as precious wonder, she said she asked a local man: “What is this gorgeous bird?”
“He was like, ‘Oh, that’s a bin chicken’,” she said. Oh, you sweet baby angel.
“What I learned was that the ibis is called a bin chicken because they eat garbage — out of the dumpsters — and that is their pigeons, and they have about eight songs about how much they hate them.
“And to me this was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.”
In the ibis’ defence, they are magnificent birds — or, we would think so if they weren’t so smelly. Which they only are because they’ve been driven from their native marshlands and into cities by human development.
Bin chickens are brazen, kinda mean and have no boundaries. At one point, I was personally victimised by an ibis who snatched a fresh box of chips right out of my hands and spilled them all over the ground.
Criminals, but I respect them. They’re not just surviving, they’re thriving. Girlbossing their way to success. Not taking anyone’s shit. An iconic symbol of Aussie perseverance, no matter how much we dismiss them as just bin chickens.
You’ll be able to catch JOE vs CAROLE only on Stan from March 4.
