Feeling twitchy? Get ready for the Aussie Backyard Bird Count
How to graduate from avian amateur to bird nerd.
On Monday 18 October, the 2021 Aussie Backyard Bird Count begins! This annual outbreak of citizen bird-geekery inv...
Birds
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Video
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Kea can use touchscreens but think the virtual is real
That’s one clever parrot: kea employ their tongues to operate touchscreens.
Clever Kea (Nestor notabilis) can use touchscreens with their tongues and perceive the virtual world as real, accordi...
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The story of bird migration is written in poop
The microbiome of bird changes depending on where it eats – even when it is half way round the wo...
The story of bird migration is written in poop, according to a study published in Molecular Ecology. Bird poop is ...
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Video
The night parrot rangers
We interview the Martu rangers who recently caught a glimpse of the night parrot.
A few weeks ago, a group of Martu rangers working with Indigenous organisation Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa caught sight of t...
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Bruce the beakless kea uses tools to spruce himself up
Scientists have observed a disabled kea using tools to help look after himself.
In a world-first, researchers from the University of Auckland in New Zealand have observed a disabled kea use tools f...
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After 10,000 years of inbreeding, the kākāpō is hanging on
Genetic study of the critically endangered kākāpō shows some hope for survival.
The kākāpō (Strigops habroptila), the world’s heaviest and arguably dumbest parrot, doesn’t seem to suffer from a his...
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Animals are 'shapeshifting' because of climate change
Animals around the planet are adapting to climate change in ways that are measurable, remarkable ...
Some warm-blooded animals are “shapeshifting” in response to a warming climate, growing larger legs, beaks and ears a...
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Video
Wired for sound: The observatory that’s always listening
The Australian Acoustic Observatory (A2O) proves you don’t have to be there to get the data.
The Australian Acoustic Observatory (A2O) is a continental-scale acoustic sensor network, designed to collect data ov...
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How young do baby birds recognise family?
Straight from the heart … inside the egg.
The small ground finch on Floreana Island in the Galapagos. Credit: D. Colombelli-Négrel, Flinders University When...
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“You bloody fool!” The musk duck that learnt to swear
Listen to recordings of a duck that picked up some choice phrases from its keepers.
A small number of animals, particularly birds, can learn to mimic other animals – including humans. The Australian mu...
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A glimpse of the night parrot in the Great Sandy Desert
Rangers in Martu country snap a rare picture of the rare bird.
This century, fewer than 30 people have seen the night parrot alive. The bird is notoriously difficult to spot, but a...
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Giant centipedes devour thousands of seabird chicks every year
Foot-long centipedes are the apex predators on a South Pacific Island.
Hot on the heels of revelations about murderous tortoises comes a new study about equally deadly centipedes that hunt...