Education

Birds in your backyard

You can learn more about birds in any space – with or without walls, including your own backyard. Our Birds in Backyards program will teach you how to identify the birds that visit your garden and how to create bird-friendly habitat without leaving your home. 

BirdLife Australia branches

If your are ready to venture a little further afield get in touch with your local BirdLife Australia branch, or get active with other local environmental and friends groups. Our branches organise field trips, bird walks, extended camp outs or tag-a-long tours, and hold regular meetings with speakers on a range issues related to birds, birdwatching and conservation.

BirdLife Australia Photography

If photography is your passion you can combine it with learning about birds by getting involved with the BirdLife Photography group. Your photographs may help inspire others to learn more about birds.

In the school ground, classroom or local park young people connect with the environment by discovering the birds that live there.

Birds are easy to identify and fun to watch. They provide a great starting point for learning about sustainability.

Sustainability is a cross-curriculum priority in the new national Australian Curriculum. BirdLife Australia resources provide inspiration for developing your school’s program. Find out how you can include birds in the curriculum with the following resources for teachers.

Find support in your local community and make contact with a local bird educator. You can also become involved with other education activitiesby exploring our conservation projects like the Beach-nesting Birds project.

Today’s young birders are tomorrow’s conservationists

There is a whole new world to explore outside your door. In the park or your backyard among the trees and shrubs birds are looking for food, building a nest or singing with their own bird voice. To help you discover more about this world you can choose one of our colouring sheets below in the downloads section.

The Wing Thing

The Wing Thing is our special magazine just for kids. Because education is one of the best tools in our efforts to save native birds, it is important to ensure that young people understand that they can help. To allow kids to step into the shoes of some of Australia's birds, check out The Wing Thing, a kid-friendly magazine and related interactive website to fire their imagination on Hooded Plovers and Swift Parrots and Shorebirds. Download the magazines below.

BirdLife Stickybeaks

Are you curious about the birds you have seen in your backyard, at school or on your last holiday?

We are too. Knowing more about where birds are, what they are doing and when they are doing it helps us to understand more about what is happening in our environment.

BirdLife Australia can help you to discover more about the birds you see so that we can find out more about what Australian birds are doing.

Stickybeaks are bird watchers under fourteen who love exploring their environment and discovering more about birds.

Become a Stickybeak member and you will receive:

• Stickybeak membership pack with a stack of goodies to get you started including posters, the Wing Thing magazine, stickers and games
• 4 Newsletters – during the year with updates and tips about discovering birds
• Invitations to participate in special events and competitions

Click here to go to the membership page where you can download a joining form.

Beaks, Feet and Feathers

This education resource was originally developed by Birds Australia. The pilot involved 9 schools that as a result of surveying birds in their school grounds made changes to improve bird habitat. They installed nest boxes, bird baths, planted indigenous plants and changed the school’s waste management practices.

Use Beaks, Feet and Feathers to help you start monitoring birds in your own school ground. Birds can be excellent indicators of environmental health and learning more about them and their habitat needs provides an exciting introduction to understanding biodiversity.

Western Port Shorebirds Education Kit

The purpose of this education kit is to guide teachers and their students through a fun and informative exploration of shorebirds. This kit has been specifically designed for primary schools located in the Western Port area but contains plenty of information about shorebirds and wetlands that can be found in many parts of Australia.

BirdLife Australia hopes that this kit inspires you to experience the wonders of shorebirds. Studying shorebirds with your class can take you on a journey of discovery to other parts of the world as you follow the travels of migratory shorebirds flying from Alaska and Siberia to Australia and back every year.

Download these resources below.

Work along side our project staff and contribute to important information about Australian birds. Learn more about which birds are doing well and which need our help, and why.

Training workshops are held for some projects with field identification and surveying being key skills. Find more information about bird conservation and how to participate by exploring Our Projects.

Your involvement as a volunteer not only provides invaluable support for our  project teams, but also helps to create a bright future Australia's birds.

Scattered throughout the country BirdLife Australia has special places where you can become actively involved in learning more about birds.  Our facilities can be found in coastal, desert, woodland and urban locations. Go to the Visit Us section to find out more about our wild places.

Participate in the education programs at Gluepot Reserve, get involved with mist netting and bird banding at Broome Bird Observatory, visit the White-bellied Sea Eagles at our Sydney Discovery Bird Centre, or go camping in the woodlands at Clarkesdale Bird Sanctuary near Ballarat, Victoria.