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By joining the biggest community of bird lovers in Australia, you can help us make a positive impact on the future of our native birdlife. The members of BirdLife Australia, along with our supporters and partners, have been powerful advocates for native birds and the conservation of their habitats since 1901.

We are also the meeting ground for everyone with an interest in birds from the curious backyard observer to the dedicated research scientist. It doesn’t matter what your interest in birds is or how much you know about them, your membership will offer you the opportunity to increase your awareness and enjoyment.

Birdlife Australia would be delighted to welcome you as a new member and we look forward to sharing our news and achievements with you throughout the coming year.

Bird Search

Although birds are usually quite easy to see, often they are more difficult to identify. You may have had the briefest glimpse or heard a snatch of its song, or perhaps it was a bird you have never seen before. The best place to look for it is here.

You will discover the remarkable variety of birds that occur across Australia. With stunning images of featured species and some recordings of their songs and calls, you are sure to find that mystery bird, or learn more about species you already know.

By State or Territory QLD

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Birds are in out nature

Our Organisation

BirdLife Australia is dedicated to creating a bright future for Australia’s birds.

Branches and locations

You can participate and share in activities and projects with local experts all over Australia.

Discovery Centre

Visit us in Sydney Olympic Park where you can learn about, see and engage with Australian birds up close and personal.

Eagle CAM >

Reserves

Visit BirdLife Australia’s stunning conservation reserves and sanctuaries overflowing with native birdlife and other incredible flora and fauna.

Observatories

Our Bird Observatories in Western Australia may be a little off the track, but that’s what makes them such magical places to see birds.

Australia's Birds

Want to know all about our native birds? Explore, learn, discover and enjoy Australia’s most comprehensive bird resource.

Birds in Backyards

Discover and identify the urban birds in your backyard. Get involved by helping us gather and share information about your local birdlife.

Birdwatching

Find places to watch birds in their native habitat. Search our listing to find the next opportunity to see your favourite birds nearby and interstate.

What's On

We hold regular events and activities throughout the year and some have been taking place for decades. There are many ways for keen bird lovers to get involved.

Community

Join our community of dedicated volunteers that help monitor and collect important data on Australia’s birds. We always need more citizen scientists.

Support Us

There are many ways you can help us help our native birds. Join as a member, volunteer, make a donation or a bequest. Your support makes a real difference.

Projects

From urgent conservation activities to ongoing data recording, explore our vital projects that make a real difference to Australia’s birds.

Advocacy

Our policies, submissions and campaigns make us the leading voice for Australia’s birds by influencing decision makers and stakeholders.

Science

Research, monitoring and evaluation underpin all our efforts. We have a long history of expertise in the science of bird conservation.

Education

Our education programs share knowledge and experience in a friendly hands-on environment with staff and volunteers that know and love Australia's birds and their habitats.

Publications

BirdLife Australia has a long and proud history of excellence in publishing. Our members' magazine, journals, newsletters, and reports are all world-class.

H.L. White Library

The H.L. White Library is the most comprehensive ornithological library in Australia, containing thousands of books, journals, and media about birds and related topics.

Join or renew your membership and enjoy the rewards of making a real difference to our birds.

Join or Renew

We always need volunteers. Contributing your time is one of the most effective ways to help.

Volunteer

Your support helps us take actions that create positive outcomes for birds and their habitats.

Donate

Home >
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Projects >
Past Projects

Atlas & Birdata

The Atlas is one of BirdLife Australia's greatest resources, allowing us to track changes in birds across the country. Since 1998 a dedicated band of... More >

Beach-nesting Birds

BirdLife Australia’s Beach-nesting Birds project works with community volunteers across Australia to help raise awareness among beach users about... More >

Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo Recovery

BirdLife Australia has been running the Carnaby's Black-Cockatoo Recovery project since 2001. We work with various land managers, government and... More >

Shorebirds 2020

The Shorebirds 2020 program aims to reinvigorate and coordinate national shorebird population monitoring in Australia. To report on the population... More >

Woodland Birds for Biodiversity

Since European settlement one-third of Australia’s woodlands and 80% of temperate woodlands have been cleared. The Woodland Birds for Biodiversity... More >

Past Projects

BirdLife Australia projects, involving a combination of volunteers, amateur and professional ornithologists, stretch back at least as far as the 1920s, and the model of large numbers of people contributing to a central database is one that still works well today. These pages give just a hint of the range of activities we have been involved in over the years. More than 100 projects have been conducted over the last century of operation.

Bird Atlassing in Regions

In 2005, we began the Bird Atlassing in Regions project to use targeted, ongoing bird surveys to assist Natural Resource Management (NRM) regional bodies to answer biodiversity-related questions within their regions. The idea behind the project was to examine topical local management issues by monitoring the birds that occur in each region.

Bird Atlassing in NRM Regions

Birds on Cotton Farms

This project assisted land managers to better understand the ecological functions of remnant vegetation and habitat requirements of declining fauna species such as woodland birds, and gave land managers practical skills in the implementation of biodiversity monitoring at farm and sub-catchment scales to improve remnant vegetation management.

Broome Shorebird Disturbances

Broome Bird Observatory carried out a study of disturbance on the northern beaches of Roebuck Bay from May 2005 to April 2006 for the WA Department of Conservation and Land Management, the Natural Heritage Trust and the Shorebirds 2020 project, coordinating a team of volunteers who twice a month recorded disturbance levels systematically at five beaches.

Cheetham Wetlands

Cheetham Wetlands, a Ramsar-listed area, comprises 420ha of artificial and natural lagoons, supporting internationally and nationally significant populations of shorebirds. This project aimed to develop a shorebird extension program to facilitate community stewardship of the wetlands and thereby minimise the effects of human disturbance and development impacts on shorebirds and their habitat in Cheetham Wetlands.

Engaging Ethnic Communities

This project, funded by the NSW Environmental Trust, linked the very successful Birds in Backyards program with the Ethnic Communities Sustainable Living Project. Twenty bilingual educators from seven different language groups (Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Arabic, Greek, Italian and Spanish) regularly visited community organisations to educate members of their communities on practical ways to live more sustainably, using bird observation as a way to get community groups engaging with their natural environment.

Hooded Plovers in southern NSW

In 2000, Project Officer Michael Weston, travelled up the coast of southern New South Wales, giving presentations and media interviews on the plight of the Hooded Plover, which is Endangered in NSW. The trip raised awareness among hundreds of people, and was funded by the then New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service and our Threatened Bird Network project.

Natimuk-Douglas Wetlands

This project was funded by the Natural Heritage Trust to prepare a draft management plan for the Natimuk-Douglas Saline Wetland System. An important aspect of the Natimuk-Douglas Saline Wetland System is the spectacular annual migration of thousands of Banded Stilts to these salt pans. In the spring time of most years, the salt pans support large numbers of Banded Stilt with annual peaks of between 14,000 to 60,000 birds, representing between 7 and 30% of the Australian population.

Natimuk-Douglas Wetlands

Newhaven Fire Management

Compilation of a Fire Management Strategy for Newhaven Reserve was commissioned in 2005, after a series of extensive fires had occurred on the Reserve from 2001-2004. The Newhaven Fire Management Strategy set out the vision, approach and rationale for the management of fire for species conservation, people, asset protection and wildfire control at Newhaven Reserve for a five year period from June 2006.

North Head Bird Monitoring

In August 2005 we were contracted by the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust (SHFT) to conduct research on species richness and relative abundance of birds on North Head, and to make recommendations on the best practice for improving bird habitat quality. The information collected during this study was vital to ecological management of North Head and is increasing our knowledge of bird responses to habitat alteration.

North Head near Sydney Harbour

Community consultation during the Oil Spill Response Atlas project

Oil Spill Response Atlas

OSRA is a national geospatial database combining logistical, environmental, geomorphological and biological data from varied sources into a single integrated database. The key to the success of OSRA is ensuring the database is as comprehensive and up to date. In particular, information on biological communities most at risk from oil spills is essential. We found over 60 previously unidentified sites of significance for birds in the Bass Coast, Port Phillip and Westernport Bay areas of Victoria, and over 950 new species records (including a number of threatened, endangered and migratory species) were added to the database.

Port Phillip Bay Shorebirds

Within the Port Phillip Bay (western shoreline) and Bellarine Peninsula Ramsar Site, a number of migratory shorebird species occur in internationally significant numbers each year between September and April. Groups such as the Victorian Wader Studies Group (VWSG), Geelong Field Naturalists Club and the Bellarine branch of then BOCA, have been monitoring shorebird populations on a voluntary basis within Port Phillip Bay through counting and banding activities for the past 28 years.

Tasmanian Shorebird Conservation

In 2006 the partners commissioned us to undertake a review of Shorebirds, their threats, and management needs in Tasmania to identify priority sites for conservation. The review identified the Tamar region - George Town, Kelso/Greens Beach, Bellbuoy Beach and Bellingham - as one of several important areas for shorebirds. Over 20 potential threats were identified, and these were overwhelmingly related to human activities such as vehicles on beaches and dogs off-leash.

Tasmanian Shorebird Review

Project Officer Fiona Spruzen, together with Rio Tinto, conducted a review of shorebirds, their threats and management needs, in Tasmania, as well as compiling information on significant sites for shorebirds, and details of their threats and the management interventions which have been undertaken. These where then overlaid to assess the highest priority conservation projects.