From proud raptors and flighty finches to epic flocks of budgies – Alice Springs and surrounds are a paradise for bird-watchers. With 180 bird species to spot in the Red Centre alone, we’ve narrowed down 10 to put at the top of your list.
Sydney may be known for bin-scrounging ibis and bobble-headed pigeons, but there’s more diverse birdlife in this metropolis than many probably realise.
The public can now listen to the calls of the elusive night parrot, presumed extinct until its sensational rediscovery in 2013.
Is providing birds with food and water making them too dependent? Or are gardens just the new frontier of Australia’s urban landscape? New research aims to find out.
Usually the butt of jokes and objects of revulsion, it’s time we started listening to the message of the Australian white ibis.
Be they speckled, spotted or sparse, the size of a mango or the diameter of a five-cent coin, birds’ eggs are wonderfully diverse.
IN THE NSW SOUTHERN Highlands, Peggy McDonald has helped run the Australian Raptor Care & Conservation Centre since it was founded in April 2015. The 17ha property rehabilitates injured birds, mostly birds of prey, with the aim to return them to the wild. All photography by Esther Beaton. Read more about Peggy’s life-long passion for wildlife and how she co-founded the centre in AG#135, out now.
Metallic starlings – not the kind that live in your roof – breed in huge colonies that draw thousands of animals.
This 17-23 October is National Bird Week, and Aussies are invited to head into their own backyards to record their local birdlife in the name of citizen science.
Bird baths are more than just ornamental splash pools. They’re also a site where animals socialise and intense rivalries play out. And bird bath design, location and cleanliness can have a big impact.