News One of Australia's rarest plants is back from the brink …322 plant species across the 1375ha wetland complex, there’s a lot to do. “There are the river red gum and black box woodlands, which support the vulnerable regent parrot,” Tim…
History & Culture 30 of the best collective nouns …Brace of deer Business of ferrets Cackle of hyenas Charm of finches Company of parrots Convocation of eagles Clowder of cats Drunkship of cobblers Flush of fungi Gaggle of geese…
News Bird-watchers use iPhones to track cockatoos …have already tracked 70 tagged cockatoos that frequent the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney, using an iPhone app called Wingtags. So far, over 5000 sightings of these noisy parrots have…
AustroPalaeo ‘Romeo and Juliet’ dinosaurs buried together …a group of parrot-beaked dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous epoch; they had fans of feathers on their forearms and around their flexible tails. Researchers have argued that they could flick…
Wildlife Opinion: Conservation efforts must include small animals …would be lost overnight. Many birds would die from lack of food, and soil formation would largely halt. The knock-on effects would also be huge as food webs collapse, and…
History & Culture Songlines of the Lurujarri Heritage Trail …in dry season, maximum daytime temperatures average 30ºC, and nights are cool. In the middle of the year, cockatoos and brolgas feed on bush onions. Osprey, honey-eaters and red-winged parrots…
Science & Environment Farmers are helping endangered ecosystems …(Source: Author provided) Endangered ecosystems The box gum grassy woodlands of eastern Australia are home to several hundred species of native birds, including the iconic superb and turquoise parrots, thousands…
Science & Environment The silencing of the seas: how our oceans are going quiet …Other types of animals create ocean noise too. Urchins and parrotfish make clearly audible chomping sounds as they scrape algae off rocks. Many fish are frequent and loud talkers and…
Science & Environment The Great Barrier Reef’s ‘new normal’ is a forlorn sight …Algae-eating species such as surgeon fish are doing well, but coral-feeders are hardly to be seen – I spotted only a single parrot fish in an hour of snorkelling. Meanwhile,…
News Hummingbird feathers create 'symphony' …spots in Australia Bird watcher’s guide to Australia Reader photos: birdlife Tracking tweets in the wild made easier Birds of Paradise: ritual of seduction Parrots and lyerbirds the great pretenders…