In the early 1970s, Taronga Zoo launched an experimental breeding program encouraging the Australian white ibis to roost in the grounds on Sydney Harbour.

At the time it was seen as an exciting opportunity, but could the zoo be held responsible for the rise of the much-maligned bin chicken?

In 1973, just 19 ibis from Healesville in Victoria were held at the zoo and were encouraged to breed as free-ranging birds.

A report on the Taronga program unearthed by the ABC RetroFocus project describes the ibis as being "among the most graceful and decorative of Australian birds".

Today, Sydney's ibis population is estimated to be around 10,000.

Far from their graceful persona, the bin chicken, tip turkey or dumpster diver of 2018 has gone through an enormous perception change.

Thousands of ibis have taken up residence around Sydney's parks and the harbour. ( ABC Radio Sydney: Harriet Tatham )

Is Taronga Zoo to blame?

Dr Richard Major, principal research scientist at the Australian Museum, has been studying the birds for 34 years.

While he said it would be unfair to point the finger directly at Taronga Zoo, he said it was reasonable to suspect its program helped the wetland dweller adapt to life in a city.

"The birds had visited Sydney in the past, and there are records of birds in the 1970s visiting Sydney, [but] there are no breeding records in Sydney until the 1980s," he said.

"Maybe it's reasonable to suspect that that was a nucleation point in Sydney that encouraged birds to stay and work out how to capitalise on an urban landscape."

Dr Major said Sydney's ibis program was not unlike those in other states.

"It's repeated in a couple of places; in the Healesville Sanctuary in Victoria there was a captive population of ibis there and there's now more ibis in Melbourne, and in Canberra at the Tidbinbilla sanctuary, they have some captive ibis there and that seems to be the source of a nucleation point."

Dr Richard Major has been studying birds for 34 years and has a soft spot for the ibis. ( ABC Radio Sydney: Harriet Tatham )

Dr Major said the more likely explanation for population changes was one of environmental degradation and a will to survive.

"In the 1980s it was quite common for 15,000 ibis to be nesting in colonies in a flooded wetland in the Murray-Darling basin, and we're not seeing those numbers in the Murray-Darling anymore.

"They've probably used the coast as a drought refuge when they weren't getting the freshwater wetland support ... and then discovered that humans do quite a good job of monopolising the resources.

"Cities have quite predictable freshwater water and have got good feeding sites."

While it's difficult to sit in any east coast city and not have your sandwich threatened by an ibis, Dr Major said it was a misunderstanding to think the population was on the rise.

"We get a biased view on how common ibis are because now the big ibis populations are overlapping the big human populations, whereas in the past they were excluded from each other.

"We've probably seen a decline in the overall ibis population but we think they're much more abundant."

Capitalising on 'the spirit animal of millennials'

With drought and river regulation forcing the ibis towards the coast, there are plenty of complaints.

A school in north Queensland waged war on the bird to evict it from school grounds because of "anti-social" behaviour.

But despite its pesky behaviour, the ibis has become something of an anti-hero and creatives around the county are capitalising on the trend.

One of them is Molly Coombs Marr, who is a Sydney-based jeweller designer who's been making bin chicken earrings since late 2017.

The idea for the earring set, which features an ibis on one and a red-lid garbage bin on the other, came after requests from customers.

Ms Coombs Marr said she frequently sold out of the product and she believed its popularity stemmed from an affinity with the underdog.

"Australians really love a daggy underdog, and the ibis is exactly that of the bird world," she said.

"It's a survivor, and I've described it as the spirit animal of millennials, and I think that's really great."

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Kate Rider, a cake-maker from Blackbutt north-west of Brisbane, said she had also been asked by customers to incorporate the ibis into her creations.

"I made the bin chicken cake for a 21st birthday," she said.

"A friend of mine; her daughter suggested the ibis cake because she thinks that the ibis is trashy — just like she is.

"I was really excited because I like to go outside the box."

Taronga Zoo has been contacted for comment.