Birds in Backyards

Even though our cities and suburbs seem quite green, they can be hard places for many native birds to survive.

Birds in Backyards

Our gardens and parks are mostly made up of lawns with a few scattered trees and shrubs. This type of habitat is good for some native birds such as Currawongs, Cockatoos, Magpies, Noisy Miners and Rainbow Lorrikeets, which you may have noticed dominate the urban environment but not so good for many smaller native birds, such as Superb Fairy-wrens, Thornbills, Eastern Spinebills and the smaller honey eaters.

Cities are big places and we could make them important refuges for native birds. Approximately half of Australia's threatened species occur on our urban fringes. By planting the right species and including an understory of plants, shrubs and trees in our gardens we can make many little gardens into one big garden, creating habitat across the neighbourhood, the suburb and the whole city.

The links below provide information on how to create a bird friendly yard, resources such as discounted plants and bird baths and bird citizen science projects where you can add you own bird observations to important research.

Habitat Stepping Stones

Birds in Backyards

Bathing Birds Study

Aussie Backyards Bird Count

Hollows as Homes

Habitat Network

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Birds in Backyards