Open thread: What is Australia's best bird? And what is the worst?

Australia has more than 800 species of birds - and many more opinions about which one is the greatest. Share your favourite native bird in the commentsFootball codes, meat pies, potato cakes or scallops, Melbourne or Sydney, Holden or Ford. As a country Australians have quite a lot that divides us - but nothing, it seems, so much as birds.Are magpies beautiful, intelligent creatures maligned only because no one bothers to make friends with them or guilty of "violence against gingers"? Is it OK to hate brush turkeys because they're a major nuisance or is hating them "like people who move into an area because they like the pubs and cafes then complain about the noise"? Emus are on the national crest but are they really our worst bird "because of the weird, vaguely demonic booming noise it makes with its throat"? Continue reading...