Member | Join now

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

Refined search

324-250
Western Ground Parrot

@BirdlifeOz

Congrats to @BirdlifeOz member Patricia Ferguson for winning a Logan Eco Award for her countless hours working for birds & the environment!

The UK's first crane egg in four centuries has been laid! Congrats @WWTworldwide! http://t.co/3RhrEyjJfy

Is nowhere safe from shooting, grazing & logging? National Parks don't seem to be. We call for Fed protection now: http://t.co/CSUzaOTulb

Bittern Project

The Bittern Project was started in 2007 in response to concerns over the plight of the Australasian and Australian Little Bittern. Our research has revealed that the Australasian Bittern is indeed threatened and through our efforts has been added to the EPBC list as Endangered, while the Australian Little Bittern has less precise habitat requirements and hence not currently threatened. This project aims to help ensure the long-term survival of bitterns as well as other species which inhabit the freshwater wetlands.

The Australasian Bittern

The Australasian Bittern is an endangered waterbird which occurs mainly in Australia and New Zealand. It inhabits tall, dense, emergent, reedy vegetation growing in shallow freshwater wetlands, where foraging, roosting and breeding all take place. They are often difficult to see. When a person walks through a bittern’s wetland, the bird’s initial reaction is to freeze and assume an erect posture — with its neck outstretched and its bill pointing skyward.  Sometimes a hiding bittern even sway with the breeze to enhance its concealment. When this pose is combined with its cryptic plumage (mottling, streaks ands striations), a bittern is easily overlooked. The eerie call of the Australasian Bittern is said to have been the origin of the Aboriginal and colonialist myth of the Bunyip - a mythical creature said to live in creeks, swamps, billabongs, riverbeds and waterholes.

 

Distribution of the Australasian Bittern from 1998-2011

Australasian Bitterns occur in south-eastern Australia, from Bundaberg south to Tasmania and west to Adelaide, and also in south-west Western Australia. They require large, relatively undisturbed freshwater wetlands, where they breed in densely vegetated areas, building nests in deep cover over shallow water. Australasian Bitterns feed on a wide range of small animals, including eels, frogs, fish and yabbies. There has been a rapid loss of suitable natural habitat for Australasian Bitterns over the past 20 years due to drainage and degradation of wetlands combined with prolonged drought. As a result, the population of Australasian Bitterns has declined significantly.

Visit our Bird Profiles to listen to the eerie call of the Australasian Bittern.

"Thanks to BirdLife Australia's conservation team the Australasian Bittern is now federally  listed as Endangered in Australia and globally in the IUCN Red List"

The Australian Little Bittern

The Australian Little Bittern could be considered the consummate skulker and lurker of our wetlands. It is not much larger than the small rails but, unlike them, it rarely comes out onto mudflats or into the open, preferring to remain within or on the edge of wetland vegetation. It occurs in diverse freshwater swamp habitats, mainly where tall rushes, reeds, Typha (cumbungi), shrub thickets or other dense cover is inundated by at least 30 cm of water. It can be found in vast swamps, but unlike the Australasian Bittern, it often inhabits small patches of dense wetland vegetation such as Typha along drains or in small urban lakes.

A migratory species in the southern part of its range, the Australian Little Bittern occurs locally across south-eastern and south-western Australia during spring and summer. Its status in northern Australia uncertain, but recent records suggest that some sites (mostly artificial) support a resident breeding population. More information is needed, especially in wetlands around the Ord River in Western Australia and in the Northern Territory and Queensland; some of the population winter in southern New Guinea.

Distribution of the Little Bittern from 1998-2011