Backyard birds in decline

The numbers and diversity of birds in our urban spaces is in steep decline as gardens and green spaces are developed for housing.

In search of the buff-breasted button-quail

The last known buff-breasted button-quail was shot by a collector in humid savanna on Cape York Peninsula a hundred years ago, but there are hopes the species may still survive in remaining pockets of its habitat.

Clever cockatoos learn through social interaction

60 years after blue tits in England learned to peck at silver milk bottle tops on doorsteps, Australian researchers have realised that cockatoos also learn how to open rubbish bins from each other.

Why it’s ok to feed the birds

Feeding the birds is encouraged in Britain and across the northern hemisphere, yet Australian authorities frown on the practice for no good reason. Feeding birds in the right ways can help strengthen our connections with the natural world in our ever more urbanised cities.

50 billion birds – and 7.7 billion humans

Wildlife numbers of all types have plummeted in recent years due to deforestation and environmental damage but a new big data study suggests there are still around 50 billion birds in the world – just 7 for every human.

In praise of pardalotes

Australia’s four species of pardalotes are unique in the world, but these beautiful small birds are now threatened by forest clearance and the fragmentation of their habitat.

Habitat loss hits the birds of South East Australia

New research has found that habitat loss is a major concern for hundreds of Australian bird species, and south-eastern Australia has been the region worst affected.

Australia’s rarest bird on menu for wedged-tailed eagles

A successful rabbit cull two decades ago has had unforeseen consequences, with a study finding wedge-tailed eagles are now preying on the critically-endangered plains-wanderer, one of Australia’s rarest birds.