Wildlife
The Aussie Backyard Bird Count starts today
This 23-29 October is National Bird Week, and you’re invited to head into your backyards to record local birdlife in the name of citizen science.
This 23-29 October is National Bird Week, and you’re invited to head into your backyards to record local birdlife in the name of citizen science.
The aim of the crowdfunding campaign, ‘Operation PKO’ is to build a hundred nesting boxes fitted with a mechanical door that will keep out the birds main predator, the sugar glider.
Unlike his relatives who travel long and far to show off their colourful plumage, the purple-crowned fairy-wren chooses just one lucky lady. See his gorgeous violet-hued plummage in our gallery. Read more about purple-crowned fairy-wrens HERE.
Evidence of the critically endangered night parrot— rarely even glimpsed by humans due to their nocturnal nature and small numbers— has been recorded by Paruku rangers in Western Australia.
Unlike his relatives who travel long and far to show off their colourful plumage, the purple-crowned fairy-wren chooses just one lucky lady.
From the ephemeral lakes to the woodlands and eastern hills, Perth abounds with birds – some 190 species in total.
A flightless, plant-eating bird, mihirungs weighed 250kg and lived in the late Oligocene to the early Miocene, about 33 to 20 million years ago.
During the hot, dry summer months, Alice Springs is often beset by a beautiful plague – flocks of thousands of green budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) in search of increasingly scarce sources of water. Photographer Steven Pearce says that there was around 4000 birds congregating around the waterhole just after dawn.
Golden bowerbirds are known for their faithfulness: often the bowers constructed by these birds remain the same for up to 30 years. But when these intricately constructed twig formations start disappearing, scientists can tell something might be wrong.
By combining data on the cat population, hunting rates and spatial distribution, these scientists have calculated that these invasive predators kill 377 million birds a year.