Go to any playground and most likely lurking behind every rubbish bin is an ibis bird or two.
But peer through the gates at Como Public School as darkness looms and there flocking for a feed are hundreds of the leftover-lunch gobblers.
It seems a standard sight in the suburbs, but school parent Darryl Easton is squawking mad.
“It’s a real problem,” he said.
“The playground is covered in crap. It’s a major health concern because their droppings are toxic.”
Mr Easton says as pupil enrolment grows, so do the Australian wading birds.
“It’s been an issue for years,” he said.
“There were about 20 birds that would come in late at night and now hundreds fly in after spending all day at the tip.”
The Como father says the bird invasion is stopping children from using play equipment.
“Two years ago the P&C raised nearly $80,000 to provide new play equipment,” he said.
“It is now sectioned-off and is out of bounds for kids due to the influx of ibis roosting in the trees at night, covering the school in toxic waste.”
He said the school tried to find solutions but none were successful.
“They use garden sprinklers in the mornings to dilute the waste across hard surfaces of the playground, and put lights on trees to shine on them but it doesn’t work,” he said.
So Mr Easton took matters into his own hands.
“There was a group of dads including me involved, and we would shoo them away with torches and bang on the school seats as they flew in,” he said.
“We had ourselves an ibis patrol.
“They’d fly on and be someone else’s problem. But the other dads have left so there’s no one else to do it.
He said the council should step in.
“It can deal with bat colonies – and I was against any bat action at Kareela because they’re threatened species, but this is not a natural habitat for the ibis,” he said.
“They do nothing about the filthy ibis.”
Sutherland Shire Council says it does not currently have any ibis management strategies in place.
A spokesman from the Department of Education said the school implemented regular cleaning of the playground and play equipment.
He said installed lights aimed to dissuade birds from using trees on or near school grounds at night.
“The school will shortly be meeting with the department and local council to look at additional measures that may be implemented,” he said.