Birds Australia

Australia

Threatened Species: 48 more info»
IBAs: 165
EBAs: 15 more info»

Birds Australia

Birds Australia is the BirdLife Partner

Founded in: 1901 as the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union
Members: 8,000
Staff: 35
Address: Birds Australia
Suite 2-05
60 Leicester Street
Carlton VIC 3053
Australia
Email: mail@birdsaustralia.com.au
Web: http://www.birdsaustralia.com.au

Mission of the organisation

Birds Australia’s motto is ‘Conservation Through Knowledge'.

Conservation…We wish to halt the loss of our biological diversity. This requires that we protect what is left of our native vegetation and that wherever practicable we restore environmental health to our landscapes by repairing what has been degraded and replacing what has been lost.

…Through Knowledge. At Birds Australia we generate and share knowledge about birds and their habitats. Birds are an important part of biodiversity in their own right but changes in the number and distribution of birds can also tell us a lot about changes in environmental health. Importantly, it is easier to measure changes in bird populations than it is for most other groups of animals. Birds Australia is uniquely placed to harness the collective knowledge, skills and goodwill of professional and amateur ornithologists, and others interested in birds. By sharing knowledge we seek to influence the decisions of those whose actions affect the conservation values of land in Australia.

While ‘Conservation Through Knowledge’ is the primary focus of Birds Australia we know that people are passionate about and value birds for a variety of reasons. We encourage all people fascinated by birds to pursue that interest under our broad umbrella.

Key Activities

Atlas of Australian Birds is one of Birds Australia’s greatest resources, allowing us to track changes in birds across the country. Atlas data forms the basis for research publications such as The State of Australia's Birds. Since 1998 a dedicated band of over 7000 atlassers have amassed over 420,000 surveys, comprising over 7.1 million bird records. Birds Australia is currently developing a fixed-site monitoring network and bird indices for assessing population trends based on Atlas data.
Birdata is a new website devoted to the Atlas where atlassers can enter new data and gain feedback about their surveys and sites. At its core is sophisticated software that maps the distribution of every Australian bird. General bird lists for any part of the country are also available by clicking on the Birdata map.
Beach-nesting Birds aims to improve and inform decision making for the conservation management of Australia’s resident, beach-nesting shorebirds. This project will increase awareness and involvement by communities and beach users in conservation of beach-nesting birds. The project is carried out in partnership with Port Phillip and Westernport Catchment Management Authority and funded by the Australian Government’s National Heritage Trust.
Birds in Backyards was established in 1998, this program (in partnership with the Australian Museum) uses three themes-- scientific research, education and conservation, to examine and understand the ecology of birds in the urban environment. The project started in Sydney and is quickly becoming nationwide.
Important Bird Areas are sites of global bird conservation importance. Each IBA meets one of four global criteria used by BirdLife International. We aim to monitor birds at our IBAs, advocate their importance to government, and work with land-holders and other local people to conserve them. In partnership with Rio Tinto, Birds Australia has identified and documented almost all of the Australian IBAs.
Orange-bellied Parrot Recovery Project is an extensive project on the wintering habitat requirements of this critically endangered species, utilising a network of dedicated and skilled volunteers to search for the parrots. The overall aim is to identify what constitutes suitable and potential habitat for wintering OBPs to enable us to improve the protection and management of this habitat.
Red-tailed Black Cockatoo recovery program aims to recover the Endangered south-eastern subspecies of the RTBC population to a minimum of 1000 birds to halt its potential extinction.
Shorebirds 2020 is a project designed to reinvigorate and coordinate national shorebird monitoring in Australia. A collaborative enterprise involving The Australasian Wader Studies Group (AWSG), WWF-Australia and the Australian Government’s Natural Heritage Trust in which the primary objectives are to collect data on the numbers of shorebirds in a manner that can be utilised to aid their conservation and management, specifically long- and short-term population trends, and explore what may be causing those changes.
State of Australia’s Birds Reports have been produced annually since 2003. The reports collate and disseminate information on trends in bird populations to inform Australians of the status of their birds and help bring about improved understanding and better management of the land for birds and other biota. They also provide feedback to the dedicated thousands who volunteer their time and skills to monitor birds.
Threatened Bird Network aims to encourage community participation in urgent conservation tasks for threatened birds. At any time TBN has over 5000 volunteers registered and assists up to 30 projects per year working on threatened bird conservation. This assistance includes activities such as surveys, attendance at recovery team meetings (including Night Parrot, Malleefowl, Swift Parrot, Helmeted & Regent Honeyeaters and Orange-bellied Parrots), and running training workshops.
Woodland Birds of NSW aims to create broad public awareness of the problems of woodland birds in the Cowra Region of NSW and the actions needed to conserve woodland birds.

Recent Achievements

Opened the Birds Australia Discovery Centre at Sydney Olympic Park in 2008; providing us with opportunities to engage and advise the community, the corporate sector, governments and schools in the importance of bird conservation
Moved National Office to the Green Building in inner Melbourne to reduce our carbon footprint in 2007
Celebrated 10 years of Gluepot Reserve demonstrating how to manage and improve semi-arid habitats. Gluepot won seven major awards in the fields of the environment, conservation and ecotourism, in 2007 alone
Expanded the number of regional groups in our organisation to eight
Published four issues annually of Wingspan, our membership magazine; winner of several Whitley Awards from the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, most recently in 2007
Engaged in research and conservation work on several threatened species – Orange-bellied Parrots, Carnaby’s and Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos, Western Ground Parrot, Yellow Chat, Regent Honeyeater, Hooded Plover, threatened woodland birds, shorebirds and seabirds
Continued to provide an array of popular education programs at our bird observatories in Eyre and Broome
Published Volume 7 of the Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds (HANZAB) in 2006, thereby completing a unique publication which summarises all that we know of the 950 species of birds that are found in this region