Latest News
Got a bird-friendly garden you want to share?
30-Jun-10
Birds in Backyards is looking for people in major cities around Australia who have a bird-friendly garden and are willing to allow footage to be taken of it for a Gardening Australia piece.
Citizen science 'can safeguard birds' future'
24-Jun-10
Encouraging people to record everyday sightings of common bird species could help limit future extinctions, an international study suggests.
It concludes that large, long-running records are needed to show how numbers and distribution change over time.
The authors add that the internet could allow people to log their sightings on line, and urge websites to standardise the way data is collated.
Too Fat to Fly - Now Cleared for Take-off
10-Jun-10
MAMA Cass, a kookaburra too fat to fly because of sausage handouts, is now light enough to once again take to the air thanks to a fitness regimen at Sydney's Taronga Zoo.
Orange-bellied Parrot on the edge of extinction
05-May-10
After years of being told it was about to drop off the perch; of grabbing the headlines for supposedly stopping a range of development projects from windfarms to chemical complexes, without ever actually being responsible for halting a single project; years of being sniggered at for its somewhat Pythonesque name, the orange-bellied parrot is officially about to become extinct.
Project Officer Position Available - Sydney
09-Apr-10
We are currently seeking a project officer to manage a NSW Environmental Fund grant project entitled 'Does Biodiversity Education Work? A case study using urban birds'. This project will document the educational aims of projects associated with the Birds in Backyards resources, and measure audience engagement, behavioural and attitudinal change following participation in these projects. The outcomes of our evaluations, both with teachers and interested public audiences, will be used to develop recommendations for improving educational activities. These will be presented and modelled in a workshop series for environmental educators.
Zebra Finches Offer Clues to how Humans Learn Language
06-Apr-10
When we hear a song for the first time, it often seems like it goes in one ear and out the other, sometimes only few catchy words from a chorus leaving much of an impression.
But when the Australian zebra finch hears its father sing for the first time, those simple melodies activate large, complex gene networks in the bird's brain, according to new research by an international team of scientists that includes researchers from Washington University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Scientists obtain DNA from eggshells of long extinct birds
22-Mar-10
In a real-life effort reminiscent of Hollywood's imagination, scientists have for the first time extracted the DNA of several extinct bird species from fossilized eggshells.
Included among the species for which researchers have DNA is a giant African ratite, or flightless bird, that stood 10 feet high and weighed as much as half a ton and a 19,000-year old Australian emu.
Other long-extinct animals for which DNA was found include moas and ducks from New Zealand and an owl from Australia.
Birds in serious decline after drought
22-Oct-09
Two out of three Victorian woodland bird species are in decline, according to a 12 year study. It is not only threatened species which have declined, but common species like the Red Wattlebird and Laughing Kookaburra have as well.
Global warming is changing the weight of Australia's birds
13-Aug-09
Researchers from the Australian National University have published research which states that Australia's birds have become smaller over the last century in relation to how close they are to the equator
Global warming is changing the weight of Australia's birds
13-Aug-09
Researchers from the Australian National University have published research which states that Australia's birds have become smaller over the last century.
New doubts about dinosaur-bird links
16-Jun-09
Researchers at Oregon State University have made a fundamental new discovery about how birds breathe and have a lung capacity that allows for flight - and the finding means it's unlikely that birds descended from any known theropod dinosaurs.
Pigeons to blog about air pollution
27-May-09
A flock of pigeons is being fitted with GPS satellite tracking receivers, air pollution sensors and mobile phones for a research project in the US.
Climate Change Threatening Endangered Hawaiian Honeycreepers
27-May-09
Researchers are predicting that an increase in temperature in the Hawaiian mountains resulting from climate change will introduce deadly non-native diseases into the populations of endangered Hawaiian Honeycreepers
How does urban noise affect song learning, development and evolution in Silvereyes?
15-Apr-09
Dominique Potvin, a PhD student at the University of Melbourne, is conducting research on how urban noise affects song learning, development and evolution in Australian native birds. She is seeking assistance from Birds in Backyards members in locating suitable sites for making song recordings.
Oil spill to hit food chain
18-Mar-09
One of Australia's leading conservation groups has warned the oil spill along Queensland's coast will affect every level of the marine food chain.
Victorian Bushfires
11-Feb-09
The Victorian Bushfires have devastated communities, people and wildlife. Noone yet knows what the total impact has been on the wildlife of the fire-affected areas, however it will likely take decades for populations to recover.
Birds in Backyards passes on its condolences to all of those who have lost family, friends and houses.
World's Biggest Wildlife Survey Turns 30!
29-Jan-09
Last weekend more than three million Big Garden Birdwatch hours were clocked up as the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (BirdLife in the UK) marked 30 years of the event.
Birds as Indicators - Awards Night Spectacular
14-Jan-09
Birds as Indicators has been a forging partnerships project between Baulkham Hills Shire Council, Brewongle Environmental Education Centre, Cumberland Bird Observers Club and Birds in Backyards.
An awards night was held in December to celebrate the acheivements made by the students and to present them with the wonderful data that have collected.
State of the World's Birds report released
23-Sep-08
The release of the State of the World's Birds report by Birdlife International has shown that many of Australia's birds are under serious threat of extinction.
Eureka! Birds in Backyards wins a Eureka prize
20-Aug-08
Last night, the Birds in Backyards program won the 2008 Allen Strom Eureka Prize for Environmental and Sustainability Education