Wildlife

Geoff Park. After filling the skies above the forest for weeks now, the woodswallows have finally descended to nest. It’s early stages, with some birds incubating and many nests still being constructed. White-browed and Masked Woodswallows often select locations in the lower canopy...

Picture this: a solitary heron foraging in the muted, autumnal half-light of dawn. Or an ethereal gull hovering motionless in mid air. Or a lonely stone-curlew gazing wistfully into the artificial lights of a forbidden destination. These and more are the winning entries of the sixth annual BirdLife Australia Bird Photography Awards, which have just been announced.

The Victorian government’s regulation of timber harvesting, which has led to the impending closure of Gippsland’s native forest industry in January, directly contradicts the joint national-state approach to ensure biodiversity alongside a timber industry over the previous 30 years, analysis shows ... When setting up the National Forest Policy Statement in the 1990s, the JANIS working group – conservation scientists and planners from all states and the CSIRO – drew up the criteria to form a CAR (comprehensive, adequate and representative) reserve system.

Safeguarding of osprey population taken to new heights with interactive website and calls for community help. This November, Council is shining a spotlight on one of the Tweed’s favourite top-order predators – the osprey, listed as vulnerable to extinction in NSW.

BirdLife Australia, leaders for bird conservation in Australia, reveal the preliminary results for the Aussie Bird Count. With more than 420,000 counted, the colourful Rainbow Lorikeet once again comes out on top, beating the Noisy Miner with nearly 220,000 and the iconic Australian Magpie with around 154,000 counted.

Two black-and-white ruffed lemurs have been paired together at the Altina Wildlife Park near Darlington Point. The species is critically endangered due to poaching and deforestation and one is from England and will provide genetic diversity to the Australian lemur population.

As spring turtle nesting season begins, the Murraylands and Riverland Landscape Board is asking drivers to play a crucial role in helping to protect the region’s vulnerable freshwater turtles. Turtle fatalities as a result of traffic accidents are a significant contributor to the steep decline in freshwater turtle numbers in the Murraylands and Riverland.

Kangaroo Island has been named one of the world’s top destinations to visit – and is the only Australian destination to make the list. Ranked as #2 by global travel authority, Lonely Planet, in its 2024 Top Regions Hotlist, Kangaroo Island is recognised as a premier eco-tourism destination which offers distinct local produce, abundant native wildlife, natural experiences, and some of the nation’s most pristine beaches.

Citizen scientists are being called to swap their backyards for a local waterway by joining a wave of volunteers across the Murray–Darling Basin to help with conservation efforts. The spring sampling season of the Great Australian Wildlife Search, delivered by Odonata Foundation, has started.

The end goal of the recent Maldon Inc Kangaroo Art Project was finally realised last Friday when the much-anticipated Mylab Five VET ultrasound machine was installed in the treatment clinic at Red Box Wildlife Shelter. The ultrasound machine will assist volunteer Senior Veterinary Surgeon Dr Mark Sayer in expediting diagnosis of internal injuries in kangaroos.

Over a hundred people gathered at the Narrandera Flora and Fauna Reserve recently to attend the annual Koala Count event ... "These magnificent creatures have since spread far and wide, and the community are determined to uncover the full extent of their reach. It is reported that 25 koalas were counted this year, with five of them accompanied by their adorable little joeys, bringing the total tally to 30."

Seen our new celebrity bird of the year the Swift Parrot flapping around? Now it’s time to celebrate our feathered friends by participating in the Aussie Bird Count ... This year celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Aussie Bird Count, BirdLife Australia is proud to be the voice for Australia's birds for over a century.

Patricia Gill. Walkers are asked to curb their dogs around incubating hooded plover chicks after a fence and signs warning of nesting parent birds were stolen at Lights Beach. BirdLife Australia beach-nesting birds project officer Lisa Nicholson assured dog-walkers that the rope fence and signs were only temporary and the eastern side of Lights Beach would not be closed to dogs.

We have just confirmed that acclaimed Sydney-based wildlife photographer Leila Jeffreys will be visiting Ballarat later this month for the launch of her work on the new Art Screen in Alfred Deakin Place. Join her as she discusses her career and experiences working with birds with Gallery Curator Julie McLaren.

The $2m project being carried out in Grandchester and Flinders Peak will include activities like planting koala-friendly trees, removing weeds that prevent koalas moving between existing koala habitat and are a fire risk, reducing livestock grazing on habitat to facilitate natural regeneration, and protecting existing koala habitat through fire management. The project will be delivered by Healthy Land and Water, and will support landholders to better protect koalas on their land.  

The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) has welcomed a one year extension to the Wild Dog Management Plan after calling for its renewal in recent weeks ... “It just made sense to extend the highly successful Wild Dog Management Plan”: VFF Livestock Group Vice-President and Tallangatta farmer Peter Star.

Suzie Christensen. The Checkpoint program conducted in July 2023 has found no sign of rats or mice on Lord Howe Island for over two years, signalling a significant milestone in the Rodent Eradication Project ... More than 950 detection device checks were undertaken using 140 tracking tunnels, 32 trail cameras, and 300 wax tags and chew cards, along with sweeps with detection dogs.

Frogs are in trouble. While many of the world's animal species are now at risk from habitat loss, climate change and other human pressures, it is frogs that are particularly at risk ... "Farm dams, often overlooked in the conservation context, have emerged as potential lifelines for numerous species during dry spells, including frogs": Dr Martino Malerba.

The Clarence Valley timber industry is still uncertain how many jobs could be lost due to the suspension of logging in the proposed Great Koala National Park as the NSW Government assesses the impact on the endangered marsupials and timber industry jobs ... “They still haven’t actually said what the areas are that they are going to not harvest in and where the actual koala hubs are, so it’s really hard to work out what the ramifications are going to be”: Donna Layton, Marshall Notaras Hardwoods GM and VP of Timber NSW.

Ecologists are reporting a promising start to a translocation project involving the Southern stuttering frog (Mixophyes australis) ... The Southern Stuttering Frog was regarded as extinct on the south coast of New South Wales due to chytrid fungus, which attacks the skin of a frog.

The Minns Government’s proposed Great Koala National Park is not an extinction panacea for koalas, says the President of Forestry Australia, Dr Michelle Freeman ... "it is simplistic to suggest that locking away forests is the great panacea for saving koalas from extinction ... In fact, experience shows us that declaring a National Park does not equal koala population growth."