Welcome to our Latest Stories page. This a place where you can explore recent interesting sightings, read about fantastic volunteer efforts, hear about Birdata’s latest features, and learn more about birds and bird monitoring for conservation.
Striated Pardalote – Michael Hamel-Green
In autumn we saw many species moving to find warmer climes for winter, follow food sources after the rain, and migratory birds arriving on Australian shores or taking flight for winter seasons overseas.
Large flocks of Pacific Golden Plovers were seen on the south coast of NSW and Silver Eyes migrating north from Tasmania were sighted in NSW. Glossy Black-cockatoos were heard near Beaconsfield, some distance from other reported sightings in south-east Melbourne and well west of their usual East Gippsland range. These are likely the same birds that are known to have fled to south-east Melbourne following the black summer fires. We saw some rare sightings of Ruffs in Victoria, Western Bristlebirds and Purple-crowned Fairy-wrens in Western Australia, and many Powerful Owls sighted in NSW and QLD as they entered their breeding season. A Sacred Kingfisher was sighted in Tasmania, a leucistic Little Penguin in Victoria, and many threatened species sighted including Regent Honeyeaters, Fairy Terns, Diamond Firetails, Gang-gang Cockatoos, Swift Parrots, Double-banded Plovers, Australasian Bitterns and Far Eastern Curlews.
Whilst we do not require photographs for every bird sighted (as this would be especially difficult under survey conditions), we do get some wonderful photos of birds through Birdata. Here is a taster of some of the rare, quirky and awesome bird sightings that were entered over autumn.
Michael Hamel-Green, March 2026.
Janette Hodgson & Alana Halford, Mar, 2026.
Joyce Ives & Robert Morison, Mar, 2026.
Andrew Meyles, May 2026.
Brendan Sydes – April, 2026.
Rosalind Jessop, March 2026.
James Arthur, May 2026.
Lauren Edson & June Wauchope, May 2026.
Alice McNeill, April, 2026.
Jeremy Law, April 2026.
David Donnelly, March 2026.
March 2026.
Jill Hammond, April 2026.
Jon Wren, May 2026.
Mandy Nicol, April 2026.
Richard Holroyd, March 2026.
Image by Mick Roderick, courtesy of Mindaribba Local Aboriginal Land Council. May 2026.
Rosalind Jessop, March 2026.
Colin Brimblecombe, March 2026.
To understand how birds are faring, long-term monitoring of birds is essential. Setting up standardised surveys at specific locations that are repeated over time is an effective way of detecting changes in bird populations. ‘Wings on King’ is a dedicated long-term monitoring program on King Island that uses Birdata to
Whilst birding is often a beautiful, relaxing activity to engage in, it’s not always a walk in the park. Bird surveying can sometimes mean crawling through muddy mangroves, getting tangled in wait-a-while vine in the rainforest, or even witnessing the impacts of a catastrophic environmental event as the Gulf St
Christine Heiser from Birdwatchers of Hervey Bay recently finished a multi-year project of entering into Birdata the historic bird lists maintained by the late John Knight. This amounts to over 1300 surveys translated into Birdata! What dedication! Since Birdwatchers of Hervey Bay formed in the late 1990s, John Knight had
Without volunteers dedicating their time and expertise, we simply would not have the capacity to influence bird conservation over such a vast and diverse continent.
Volunteers are the backbone of our organisation and we want to acknowledge you for the amazing efforts you make every time you enter a Birdata survey.
Check out some of our most recent Volunteer Spotlights!
🦉 If you have a Birdata story or sighting you would like to share, please reach out to birdata@birdlife.org.au
Meet the Birdata crew! It is a huge responsibility to uphold, maintain and curate BirdLife Australia‘s online national monitoring platform. Birdata might have a small team but they are always developing, improving and adding tools to Birdata to support bird conservation within Australia. Birdata also works collaboratively with many departments across BirdLife Australia.
Check out some of their latest editions and ways you can utilise and engage with Birdata.
The Bird Impact Tracker: a way to track the birds you love Have you ever been surveying and come across a sick, injured, or dead bird and wondered what to do with this information? With Birdata’s newest feature, the Bird Impact Tracker (BIT), you can now record these observations and
Want to become a citizen scientist bird surveyor? Sign up for the new eLearning Birdata course! Conducting bird surveys might seem like a daunting task. You might think you need a degree, extensive ecological knowledge, and exceptional identification skills to partake in science, yet Birdata is here to make your
Winter birding in Australia Complex and diverse responses to changes in the weather and food availability As a large continent, Australia has multitudes of different habitats and
Whilst Australia doesn’t have as distinct seasons as some of its northern hemisphere counterparts, there are many shifts in birds to, from and within Australia throughout the year. Many Australian birds are sedentary and remain in their general regionall year round, yet others may migrate to follow more favourable weather conditions, food sources, or breeding sites.
Indigenous Australians have been tracking natural cycles for over 65,000 years. Indigenous seasonal calendars are therefore distinctive to each region and follow changing environmental cues rather than calendar dates.
Our seasonal birding guides let you know of some of the different species’ movements across Australia. Check them out today to learn about what might be visiting, leaving, or breeding in your area.
Monitoring birds alongside restoration Birds can be great indicators of ecosystem health, and whilst many birds use degraded habitats, monitoring species composition changes and any
Learn about our latest Birdata events and any scheduled upcoming events either online or in-person here.
If you or a group you are involved in use Birdata for your bird monitoring projects and would like your story or a sighting to be featured, please reach out to the Birdata team at birdata@birdlife.org.au.
