- 23 hours ago
The Secret Lives Of Our Urban Birds
Category
🐳
AnimalsTranscript
00:04These beauties are a common sight in our towns and cities.
00:10Some we might even consider a nuisance.
00:14Many Australians don't realise how lucky we are to have such a close relationship with
00:20our native bird life. We are constantly changing the environment in which we live.
00:26And as a consequence, our native birds are changing their behaviour to survive.
00:35But are the birds we share towns and cities with changing our behaviour too?
00:43I'm on a bird lover's journey through the Greater Sydney region to take a closer look
00:48at some of the hundreds of native species that we live alongside.
00:52Yes, you're beautiful.
00:53Look at this beautiful guy.
00:56I'll meet a school teacher giving his students a passion for tiny birds.
01:02You see the students opening their eyes and, oh my god, this is amazing.
01:08See how a former industrial site is now a haven for disappearing woodland birds threatened by
01:14urban development.
01:15The brick pit had evolved into quite a complex habitat and it's now a refuge for fairy wrens,
01:23partilotes and a number of threatened species.
01:26And learn how park rangers on one harbour island are humanely reducing silver gull numbers.
01:31So you're making sure they've got an adequate but smallish section to breed in.
01:37They are a pest, they're a bit of a pain, but they're a native species.
01:43Oh, look at how beautiful they all look up there.
01:46I'm going to spend the next 24 hours with the birds, exploring the waterways and parks,
01:51the backyards and even the bins to discover just how closely interconnected we are with the
01:59urban birds of Greater Sydney.
02:15It's very early morning, and my 24 hours with Sydney's birds starts just south of the city,
02:22in the coastal villages near the Royal National Park.
02:31Wow, this is your typical suburban scene.
02:34It's bin day.
02:36Something new isn't quite right.
02:43These garraway or sulphur crested cockatoos might look like they're just hanging around,
02:48but they're actually up to something very sneaky and very clever.
02:57Part of the parrot family, cockatoos are opportunistic birds, and these bins offer a tempting smorgasbord.
03:06If only they can flip.
03:12This extraordinary ability has caught the attention of scientists.
03:21How would you describe the place we're in?
03:23It has a fantastic connection between the bush, the sea and the houses in between.
03:30Lucy Applin is here to help me better understand these mischievous street hoons.
03:35There's also quite a closed population of cockatoos here, so we know there's a single communal
03:41roost of about 140 birds.
03:43She leads a team on a project called Clever Cockies, studying how these cockatoos have learnt this crafty behaviour.
03:53What is it about cockies?
03:58When you think about how quickly the urban environment changes, it's miraculous to think that birds
04:04of this size can exist in our cities at all.
04:06They do it because these cockies can innovate and they can also learn from each other.
04:13It seems people and birds do have a lot in common.
04:20The reason some birds, especially the big ones, are thriving in the Sydney region is due in part
04:28to the local terrain.
04:30The city's rocky coastline didn't lend itself to clearing land for agriculture, which slowed
04:37road development and left lots of plants untouched.
04:41National parks were set up close to the city, protecting bushland for animals of all kinds.
04:48My mission this morning is to meet up with more of Sydney's big birds, the ones that have
04:54mastered what city living requires – cleverness, adaptability and, of course, an obsession with
05:01real estate.
05:08It's breakfast time and I'm heading to the Sydney Fish Market, the largest market of its
05:13kind in the Southern Hemisphere.
05:20Already over 50 tonnes of fresh and live seafood has been sold at auction.
05:32Outside, other hungry customers are waiting.
05:40These pelicans, or Garanga Boomerie, are opportunistic feeders and won't refuse a free handout.
05:53Hello.
05:55Yes, you're beautiful.
05:59It's not the place you'd expect to see one of Australia's largest flying birds but here
06:05it is.
06:05An Australian pelican right in the middle of Sydney at the fish markets and they're here
06:10every day trying to get their breakfast.
06:13Just like all the humans.
06:14And just like any other customer, they won't get all of their food here.
06:19These pelicans will have a little bit of brekkie and then probably go elsewhere to forage.
06:27With a wingspan of two and a half metres, the pelican is capable of flying hundreds of kilometres,
06:34using thermals to soar to high altitudes.
06:38But today, these ones are staying local.
06:42Oh, hi.
06:44Hello.
06:49Cheeky.
06:51What you can see this pelican doing is shaking its wings slightly.
06:56This means it's slightly agitated, a little bit nervous.
06:58It wants me to get it more food.
07:00It wants me to open the lid to these bins so that it can have its fill.
07:06The pelican's bill and pouch play an important role in feeding.
07:11The bill is sensitive and this helps the pelican locate fish in murky water.
07:18The distinctive pouch is used to capture food, like this scrap fish the birds found.
07:26The pelican manipulates the fish with its bill until its head is pointing down the pelican's
07:32throat.
07:33It then tries to swallow the fish head first.
07:42Being able to snack on the occasional market-fresh fish allows these pelicans to live a reasonably
07:48comfortable city life.
07:51They're one of the fortunate species that are neither vulnerable nor under threat.
07:57But there are other urban birds that have adapted perhaps too well to our urban lifestyle.
08:02Some might even consider them pests.
08:16There's one bird in Sydney you just can't ignore.
08:21This one is really in your face.
08:30I couldn't really make a film about Sydney's urban birds without including the Australian
08:37white ibis.
08:39Majestic bird, mostly at home in parks and ponds eating crustaceans and frogs and all that
08:45sort of thing, but make a pretty good go of it in the bins as well.
08:51And that's why they're often better known as bin chickens, picnic pirates, tip turkeys or
08:57even sandwich snatchers.
09:01One thing is clear.
09:02This is one bird with a bad reputation.
09:09I like ibis but the feeling isn't necessarily universal.
09:14I do think there has been a bit of a change though and the ibis is becoming more of an
09:18anti-hero
09:19now and it's got memes, social media pages and even songs to thank for that.
09:26Like this one.
09:28The woodpecker bird likes pecking wood, the bluebird's a bird that sings pretty good,
09:32the barrows are a bird that are pretty cool, aye, but the ibis is a bird that drinks bin
09:36juice all day.
09:36The crow is a bird...
09:38But surely there's more to this protected native species than simply drinking bin juice.
09:43Ibis is a binges drinking drink.
09:52This is wildlife ecologist John Martin and he's an ibis sympathiser.
10:00Why do you think it is that ibis are so maligned by people in cities?
10:06They do go up to people and try to solicit food.
10:10Yeah, they got my muffin the other day.
10:12And people literally have the childhood scarring story.
10:17Right.
10:17They stole my sausage roll, you know.
10:20And so people unfortunately have had this negative interaction but that's not the ibis's fault.
10:26That's actually a human behaviour, to feed wildlife.
10:29And when wildlife do something that we don't like, we say they're bad.
10:33And it seems we are responsible for the ibis's urban lifestyle.
10:39It's a native wetland species and humans have dramatically modified our river systems.
10:45So humans have built dams, we've extracted water out of the rivers, we've changed the flows
10:50into the floodplains.
10:52That was where the ibis nested, that was where the food came.
10:55And we talk about the boom-bust cycle of those seasonal floods.
11:00And of course, they didn't come, they didn't come, they didn't come.
11:03And the ibis, they figured out a better way.
11:06They came to the city.
11:09There are now over 5,000 ibis living in Sydney, making them a recognisable part of the city's
11:16landscape.
11:18Their numbers grew substantially in the late 90s, with the first birds travelling thousands
11:23of kilometres from the wetlands of inland New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.
11:32They weren't a common species in the Sydney region.
11:35And people would have gone and actually looked at them as a spectacle.
11:40How is it that they actually do make a living here though, because it is different than your
11:45average wetland environment?
11:46And this is one of the reasons why the Australian white ibis is such a cool story, because of
11:51that adaptive behaviour.
11:53So they can scavenge food, but they can also forage on natural food resources that we've
11:59created.
12:00There's actually wetlands just down here.
12:02They're naturally foraging in those environments and eating the macro invertebrates.
12:06They'll eat the frogs, the tadpoles, they'll eat the little fish, whatever they can catch.
12:10But they'll also go and have a hamburger.
12:12So they're not just bin chickens, they're exploiting basically every resource that they
12:18can get their ultra-sensitive beak around in the Sydney region.
12:22Being adaptable is just the solution to success if you want to live with humans.
12:28Oh, sorry, mate, it's a bit rough, isn't it?
12:33John knows of some nesting right in the centre of the city, on Gadigal land, seemingly unperturbed
12:39by the noise and movement around them.
12:42Oh, look at how beautiful they all look up there.
12:46You're so pretty.
12:48Stay calm and keep nesting.
12:51It's the attitude of the ibis.
12:54Ah, John, I can see an egg.
12:56We can see here we've got two eggs in this nest and we've got the adult there that's been
13:00keen to come back, of course, to, but also soon there might be another egg laid, whether
13:05it's today, whether it's tomorrow, and often a nest will have three eggs in it.
13:09So...
13:09Oh.
13:10Wow.
13:10And that is a substantial nest.
13:12I think, actually, if we crouch down a little, maybe, can you see it through the gap there?
13:18I can.
13:26All right.
13:26Over the past decade, the number of smaller and more specialised birds across Greater Sydney
13:33has greatly reduced.
13:36It's a familiar story across our cities.
13:38Loss of habitat from deforestation and development is the biggest threat to bird species survival.
13:48But occasionally, in the fight against development, birds can win, with a bit of help from us.
14:00You wouldn't guess it, but up until recently, this whole place was an industrial wasteland.
14:08I'm on the Parramatta River, travelling to a renowned bird refuge, which is home to many
14:14vulnerable and endangered species.
14:18The refuge is on the lands of the Wangal people at Sydney Olympic Park, reclaimed from the ugly
14:25tips and polluted waterways that once dominated this landscape.
14:31Once the home of industries like the state abattoirs and brickworks, the area was given a remarkable
14:38environmental makeover thanks to the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
14:44Set on over 430 hectares of parklands, the area is now a haven for bird biodiversity.
14:52In fact, a quarter of all bird species found in Australia have been recorded here.
15:00I want to see first-hand the kind of bird life that's drawn to this place and why they come.
15:07Hi, Jen.
15:08Hey!
15:09The cookies are giving us a chorus welcome.
15:12Yes.
15:12I'm meeting Parklands ecologist Jennifer O'Meara at the Brick Pit Ring Walk, once the site of a clay quarry.
15:20The Brick Pit had evolved into quite a complex habitat and it's now a refuge for a number of
15:27people who threaten the species and it's an ecological wonder.
15:30Yeah, it's interesting.
15:31It's just like turned itself into a biodiversity sort of little hotspot in a way, hasn't it?
15:38Yeah, it certainly has, yeah.
15:39Well, not entirely by itself.
15:42Jennifer and her team are 25 years into a long-term restoration project that includes the transformation of the brick
15:50pit into a mix of freshwater wetlands, bushland and grasslands.
15:54You have to comment on this structure, right?
15:57It's huge.
15:59What role does this play in terms of protecting the wildlife that exist in this place?
16:05Well, the brick pit is set aside for conservation, conservation of threatened species.
16:10And the brick pit ring allows people to come into the space and enjoy it and appreciate it, but not
16:18actually interfere with the structure of it.
16:21So we manage the brick pit for two species groups.
16:25We have the green and golden bell frog, an endangered species, and we have woodland birds, which are becoming wearer
16:33in the urban environment.
16:35So anything that's small, we consider woodland birds, anything smaller than a noisy miner.
16:41And because the brick pit is an open space, there's hardly any eucalyptus present.
16:46We don't get many noisy miners.
16:48So without the presence of the noisy miners, the little birds flourish.
16:54Fairy wrens, finches, pardalotes, all those beautiful little things are living in the walls of the brick pit.
17:03So it is an amazing resource and one of the most amazing places in Sydney.
17:15The brick pit is part of a network of wetland habitats along the Parramatta River estuary, like the nearby Waterbird
17:23Refuge, where waterbirds and migratory shorebirds can feed and roost.
17:28Waterbirds are really sensitive to disturbance, visual disturbance, noise disturbance.
17:33So this structure is actually really important to allowing people to access the wetland and the birds.
17:40Completely landlocked, this 10 hectare wetland was accidentally created in the 1950s as a result of an unsuccessful attempt to
17:49create more industrial land.
17:54So the filling stopped, the project just faltered, and then the wetland formed, the plant community started to recolonise, and
18:05then that provided the habitat for the waterbirds.
18:08And do the birds actually care that it's man-made?
18:11No.
18:12No.
18:12It serves the same function.
18:13Yeah.
18:15I'm sure if they knew, they would care that we're looking after it in an optimal fashion for them.
18:19I'd like to think that too.
18:26Something soon catches our eye.
18:30I can see stilts, and they're yap, yap, yap, yap, yap, yap, yapping away, like they're just being incessantly calling.
18:38Are they always here?
18:39They're always here, correct?
18:41And they're yapping because they've got chicks.
18:44So they're really, really good parents, and very assiduous at caring for these little chicks that are very mobile, but
18:52also very vulnerable to predation.
18:55That's so magnificent to see.
18:57I think I can see some feeding out there as well.
19:00But the fact that they breed here is really fantastic, because in an urban environment, they're a ground nester, which
19:08makes them very vulnerable to introduce predators like foxes and cats.
19:14The transformation of this former industrial site into a wildlife refuge is certainly a great way to help our struggling
19:22urban birds.
19:25But what other creative possibilities exist within our cities?
19:32Sydney's streets may hold the answer.
19:35See, I love it when you spot birds like this.
19:37It's so much easier.
19:40That's an eastern curlew.
19:41It goes all the way to Siberia and back every single year.
19:45And on the end, that is a bar-tailed godwit.
19:48That's our longest-distance flyer in the world, all the way to Alaska and back 11,000 or more kilometres.
19:55Migratory shorebirds.
19:57And they're here in the city.
19:59This impressive mural at Sydney Olympic Park is the work of artists Camilla de Gregorio and Christopher Macaluso, one of
20:08many they've painted across the city.
20:13They're not just pretty pictures, though.
20:17Hey, Camilla.
20:19Look at your work.
20:20Camilla and Chris use their designs as a tool for people to better connect with birds.
20:26Oh, yeah. You made a little note for yourself to make him smile.
20:30Yeah.
20:31There's always that little subtle smile that has to go in the drawing.
20:34So, how do you communicate your work to consumers?
20:39For us, it's really important to reframe the traditional ways in which we communicate conservation by making it inclusive, making
20:46it playful, making it relatable.
20:48It's finding a way into people's hearts with that special connection that they may have with a species or with
20:53an animal.
20:54And when you open that door to that first animal, then it opens the door to many more species that
20:59they may have not been aware of.
21:01I mean, with that in mind, how do you choose what to draw?
21:05Well, it all comes down to science.
21:07When we started our practice, we had a lot of interest from the scientific community and they came back to
21:13us saying,
21:14Look, for some reason, people are connecting to your work.
21:18So, these are the stories that we need to tell.
21:21These are the species that we need to bring into the spotlight.
21:26Landing in Sydney from Chile 10 years ago, Camilla was immediately struck with the city's bird life.
21:33This is so unique. The interaction that Australians have with their bird life happens in very few places on Earth.
21:38And then the more I kept reading about what they're going through with, you know, habitat loss, population decline,
21:45I got really worried and I said, Well, as designers and as communicators, we can do something to be able
21:52to bring these issues into the public awareness.
22:01Like me, many of us derive great pleasure and inspiration from watching and listening to our city's birds.
22:12So, these are mud larks.
22:14You might know them as magpie larks or Murray magpies or a peewee.
22:19And they are building a nest here in the parklands.
22:24I love watching them nest build because they build a mud nest.
22:28They get mouthfuls of dirt, literally, and take it all the way up to a branch.
22:32They plonk it on and then wiggle their bum on it to make a nice little cup shape.
22:37So, they make a bowl to nest in and they'll have maybe three to five eggs.
22:44I can hear one calling.
22:48Birds are an intricate component of ecosystems that we need for our own survival.
22:54They control pests, pollinate plants and help spread seeds.
22:59When birds start disappearing, it means that something's wrong and we need to take action.
23:05But how do we manage birds when there's a battle raging for shared resources and one species becomes a nuisance?
23:21With great access to a wide range of food, populations of the Djugudja, or silver gull, have increased in areas
23:28of human activity.
23:31And here at the bustling Opera House precinct, they're in abundance, where they can feast from the local restaurants.
23:40Much to the disdain of patrons and restaurateurs.
23:47I tell you what, urban seagulls know that fortune favours the bold.
23:54But with food like chips available, their populations are booming.
24:01Wait! Wait! This is my chip!
24:05To thwart the ambition of these gregarious gulls swooping in to picket meals,
24:10the Sydney Opera House have come up with a cunning canine plan.
24:21Patrol dogs.
24:23Their mission? To chase away the silver gulls along the promenade near the waterfront establishments.
24:29Come on, Muffin!
24:31Led by James Webb and Muffin, the mixed breed pooch.
24:36Keep going.
24:38What was happening before, so the staff will be bringing the food out.
24:41So say the staff will bring out a $200 seafood platter, for example, with prawns all hanging off the top
24:46like this.
24:46The seagulls will take it before the food even got to the table, and then they have to go back,
24:50make the food again,
24:51and over the course of a whole day that gets expensive, and people stop coming here.
24:55So do you know if it's actually made a difference to the restaurant?
24:58I would say between 90 and 100% effective.
25:02It's really interesting though, because normally when we are talking about dogs and birds,
25:07we're actually talking about dogs not chasing and not barking at birds, because that can be, in other situations, really
25:14detrimental to bird health.
25:16I mean, it's not like they're nesting here or anything anyway.
25:19I mean, they're coming here and they're stealing man-made food.
25:21I mean, I don't think they would normally be eating hamburgers and chips.
25:25And really we're just keeping them away, and there's no, the dogs never get anywhere near them.
25:30Ready, ready, ready, go!
25:35What have you noticed about the seagulls and their reading of human behaviour?
25:39Do they have sort of different things that they do for different types of people?
25:42Yeah, so you know what food they're going to go for and what situation they're going to be confident enough
25:48to go and take the food.
25:49So people will stand up to go, and they'll start putting their coats on.
25:52So as soon as they see people putting their coats on, that's a cue that the food will be unattended.
25:58Prams as well.
25:59A pram doesn't look like a source of food.
26:01Yeah, but of course they, children are always dropping food and throwing it everywhere, so they're opportunistic.
26:09Love them or hate them, Sydney's silver gulls are a highly resourceful bird species that has adapted successfully to our
26:16urban environment.
26:21But how can we manage them when their population gets too large?
26:28After a day out foraging, thousands of silver gulls escape the human rat race and return home to roost on
26:35Sydney's historic harbour islands.
26:38Open to the general public for guided tours only, Meemal, or Goat Island, is a popular nesting site for silver
26:46gulls.
26:47At their peak, they covered about half the island's coastal foreshore.
26:54But island managers are now trying to reduce Sydney goal numbers and stop them being such a pest.
27:04Seabird researcher Nicholas Carline is the scientific advisor to Parks and Wildlife staff managing these island inhabitants.
27:13Welcome to Meemal.
27:14Yeah, well, I'm here for gulls.
27:16Yes, I wish I could show you more.
27:21Meemal contains a rich array of Aboriginal, colonial and natural heritage values.
27:27Originally, it was the place for the local Aboriginal people.
27:30It was Barangaroo and Benalong both were known to be here.
27:34It was a site where they came to forage as well as get away from it all.
27:39But I think that's what drew the original people to come here anyways.
27:42There's a food resource on the cliffs that they could get.
27:51Is there a prettier urban bird? I mean, a silver gull is a gorgeous thing.
27:56Yeah.
27:58Normally, this island is teeming with hundreds of gulls.
28:02But right now, there are far fewer birds here than I was expecting.
28:06So this year, how many birds have been here nesting?
28:08Well, up until about three or four weeks ago, there were, you know, up to 300 pair here.
28:14But we've got a, there's an empty nest here, there's one here with abandoned eggs.
28:18Something's happened in the last, last few weeks.
28:22But you would think once they put the effort of laying eggs that they're going to sit them out.
28:26So there's been an event that maybe literally had water running through it in high rainfall
28:30and they went, no, this was a bad place, they've abandoned.
28:33And it'll take them, you know, six, eight weeks to get back into breeding condition.
28:36So this might be good in a drought period, but in the middle of La Nina, it's not a good
28:40idea.
28:40So they may go somewhere else.
28:48There's still a few dozen pairs of silver gulls nesting on the island,
28:52but they've chosen nesting sites that are high and dry.
28:56They're really a cliff nester because they like to have something hard behind them
28:59and the sea in front of them, that's their best sort of breeding site.
29:02But once they know a place is safe and there are no land-based predators here,
29:06they'll happily nest right up on top here once some of the best spots are taken.
29:10And so they like sites like this, like the pylons, where they can happily sit on their eggs,
29:15raise their young and nobody will stuff with them.
29:17And that's what they really want to do. And that's what they're looking for in the harbour.
29:21So anywhere where they can get in and feel like they're going to have a good place to breed.
29:27But that one's settled in. That'll be a nice quiet night for that bird.
29:31But probably on two eggs, I reckon. Two to three eggs usually.
29:34So many people write to me asking about why I never see baby seagulls.
29:39And this is the reason, because they like to breed away from you.
29:42Yes, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, that's absolutely right.
29:47To help reduce their numbers when the colony grows too large,
29:51Nicholas and the team take advantage of the way silver gulls like to nest.
29:56See, because they like to nest together in a big colony,
30:00but it doesn't necessarily mean that they want to nest right next to each other.
30:03No, no, because they need to be more than pecking distance away,
30:06because this gull here will happily eat the chicks out of this nest.
30:09Right, it's a bit cutthroat. Oh, it's very cutthroat.
30:12To limit any population increases,
30:15the team have come up with a simple but ingenious solution.
30:19They constrict the available nesting grounds on the island
30:23simply by mowing the lawn
30:25and therefore reducing the areas of long grass
30:28favoured by the birds for nesting.
30:33Now, nice long grass here,
30:35and this grass has all the barriers that they need for nesting.
30:39So, a denser colony doesn't necessarily mean more birds.
30:43No. So, by mowing sections of the island
30:46and making sure they've got an adequate but smallish section
30:50to breed in... Is containment.
30:51..means that they are potentially more dense...
30:54Yep. ..and in a smaller area. Yep.
30:55And so the breeding success will go down if they build up in numbers,
30:58so because it's that safe place they're trying to breed in.
31:02We soon get a display of their territorial behaviour.
31:07This male is serious about protecting its nesting territory.
31:12Here we go.
31:14Yeah, he's just saying, this is my spot.
31:15There's another male over there.
31:17He's got another spot.
31:17Ooh, they're doing it. They're both doing it.
31:19Yep.
31:19So, you'll see them do that at beaches against food resource,
31:22but this is about nesting, so this is more serious.
31:25So, it's saying, I'm bigger than you are, back off.
31:27Yep, yep, this is my spot.
31:29So, part of the reason the management here
31:32has been done over the years
31:34is to show the best way to manage gulls.
31:36We don't want to make gulls go away.
31:37They are a pest.
31:39They're a bit of a pain, but they're a native species.
31:41And, really, the reason they are in such large numbers
31:44is because we are so wasteful.
31:46So, if we were more careful with our waste resources,
31:49we wouldn't have such big gull numbers.
31:51But these are long-lived birds, you know?
31:5320, 25 years they'll live for easily.
31:55So, it is a long-term process.
31:58It's a slow burn to get the balance right.
32:05Nicholas and the team have reduced gull numbers
32:08by three quarters
32:10since the management program began 15 years ago.
32:14It's a far cry from the historical control methods
32:17that included scaring and culling birds,
32:20oiling and piercing eggs.
32:25Well, I think that they're 10 out of 10 for urban adaptation, really, aren't they?
32:30Oh, absolutely. You've got to admire a gull.
32:39Our brief interactions with urban birds
32:41are really only a tiny part of their lives.
32:48We think we know birds
32:50because we spend a lot of time looking at them.
32:53The truth is,
32:55we're probably never going to know everything about them.
33:00But every little bit of knowledge helps.
33:11Well, the dawn chorus is here again
33:13and that means 24 hours in the city is almost up.
33:16There's only one more thing to do
33:17and that's meet the next generation of birders
33:21to find out what they're discovering about Sydney's urban birds.
33:26We've got plenty of time.
33:28We've got about half an hour
33:28so we can do it slowly and then come back.
33:37When not teaching maths,
33:39Stanley Tang is keen to share his passion for birds with his students.
33:43We're going to run over there.
33:47This morning, Stanley's group are up at Sparrows
33:50hoping to catch and study some birds in the bushland
33:53that surrounds their North Shore school on Camaragal land.
33:58I'll just get a stick to open an egg.
34:00Any data the team collect today
34:02will be shared with environmental agencies
34:04and will become part of an important global collection
34:07on each of these birds.
34:10I'll give you this stick so we can push up it.
34:13To safely catch the birds,
34:16Stanley first needs to set up four fine-meshed nets
34:19strung between vertical poles.
34:22Birds find the nets almost impossible to see
34:25in the pre-dawn darkness.
34:28Alright, done.
34:32The team will check on the nets once the sun's up.
34:36What did your parents say
34:37when you said you were going to get up at 5am and come birding?
34:40They said no.
34:41No, just like flat out.
34:43No. What about yours?
34:45My dad laughed.
34:46He's like, you're not going to wake up.
34:48Really?
34:49So you don't wake up for anything except birds?
34:52Pretty much.
34:54Most of them, I was so surprised
34:56that most of them actually turned up.
35:03I think it's probably time that we do our first check.
35:07Hopefully we'll get something.
35:15We can see a lot of little birds sort of hopping around in the bush already.
35:19So they're starting to move around, which is a good sign.
35:27Yes, we got a bird.
35:30Only Stanley can do this part of the operation,
35:33as capturing birds needs to be done under licence
35:36by trained and experienced people.
35:39Oh my God, we got a really, really cool bird.
35:44Oh, this is a first for me.
35:47Okay, slowly, slowly, slowly.
35:56So, does anyone know what this bird is?
36:00Hayden?
36:02No.
36:04No.
36:05It's a really, really cool one.
36:09Awesome.
36:09We usually have the grey fantail,
36:11so a rufous fantail is the first for us all.
36:17That's awesome.
36:19A dainty rufous fantail is usually found
36:22in the dense, shady undergrowth
36:24of moist eucalypt forests and rainforests,
36:27not typically in these parts of Sydney.
36:30Here you go.
36:31Awesome.
36:32It's like the best bird ever.
36:34It looks really good here.
36:35It was a record for the school.
36:37It looks like...
36:37I've never caught that before here.
36:39Not even, haven't seen them here at all.
36:41They're usually more sort of in the rainforest area.
36:44Yeah, I was going to say,
36:44so maybe it's just passing through.
36:46Yeah.
36:47How exciting.
36:48It's very, very cool.
36:50Two scrub wrens are also caught in the nets.
36:53Okay, there you go.
36:55You've got a bag right here.
36:57These little guys are very local.
37:00White-browed scrub wrens inhabit dense undergrowth.
37:03They're remarkably sedentary,
37:06often remaining in the same patch of vegetation
37:08throughout their lives.
37:11We'll do the scrub wrens first.
37:14Okay, so there we go.
37:15That's our data sheet.
37:18Which you will be in charge for that?
37:20I'll just look, didn't I?
37:22In order to identify and keep track of individual birds,
37:26Stanley is putting aluminium bands on their legs.
37:29So these bands,
37:31they're issued by the Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme.
37:35Each band has a very unique serial number,
37:39and that number is actually unique worldwide.
37:41So we can, you know, this is a really important data.
37:44There's international collaboration
37:46so we can find out how far birds travel.
37:48Yeah.
37:49Which is super, super cool.
37:51Wow, look at that.
37:54Once the scrub wren is measured,
37:56the team analyse any breeding indicators.
37:59Ooh!
38:00Ooh!
38:02Like brood patches on the females.
38:05So what's a brood patch then?
38:06So they lose their feathers during breeding season
38:09around the belly
38:09and then the skin gets really liquefied.
38:13And then so they're basically rich in capillaries
38:15and so they can warm the eggs
38:18and keep the cheeks warm.
38:20Ooh!
38:21There it is.
38:23Wow!
38:26So this brood patch is actually receding,
38:29so it's towards the end.
38:30So it's not as fully liquefied anymore.
38:33So they probably have already got babies hanging around.
38:36Which is really cool.
38:39Stanley has been studying this small area of bushland
38:42for the last three years.
38:44The valuable information he is collecting
38:46helps set a baseline that can be used
38:49to track changes in the local bird populations over time.
38:53Ooh, this one is a fatty.
38:5512.
38:56This one is 12.
38:57All right, last one.
38:59This is a special one.
39:00I mean, they're all special.
39:02But...
39:03They're all special.
39:03This is just a little bit more...
39:04Just a little bit more special.
39:06Yeah.
39:07Time to see how Stanley's favourite,
39:09the Rufus fantail, measures up.
39:12Sorry, this one is a bit feisty.
39:15Look at this beautiful guy.
39:17Beautiful.
39:18All right.
39:19So, I haven't tagged this bird since I was in North Queensland, actually.
39:26So that was quite a few years ago.
39:32Seventy-five.
39:33Just a set for me.
39:34Yep.
39:37I know.
39:38I'm sorry.
39:40Ten point...
39:41Exactly ten grams.
39:44Wow.
39:45Exactly.
39:45Think of that ten grams when flies all the way from North Queensland down perhaps even
39:50further south.
39:51Exactly.
39:52Ten grams.
39:53Ten grams.
39:55Oh.
39:55Sometimes I do look at the wings.
39:58I look at the parasites.
40:00So if you look against the light.
40:02So this one is actually a really healthy bird.
40:05You will see a bit of mites over here.
40:07So those tiny little dots over there.
40:09Not a lot.
40:10So the mites will eat the feathers off.
40:13That's why birds, you know, they change the feathers.
40:15One of the reasons is to get rid of those mites.
40:18And there you go.
40:18All right.
40:19I'm ready for this bird to go.
40:21It's all right.
40:22It doesn't work.
40:23Okay.
40:24Let it sit on your hand and then open up.
40:26Shhh.
40:26Shhh.
40:27Yep.
40:28Oh!
40:28Ha!
40:29Off it goes.
40:35What is it about birds in particular that really grabs you?
40:39Kind of.
40:40I've liked birds a lot more in the past few days.
40:42I used to love them a lot.
40:43And now they're probably one of my favourite things.
40:46Normally when you just see them throughout the scrub, you just see them.
40:48You just see them as brown blurs.
40:50But up close you just see all the markings.
40:52Yeah.
40:53You can tell so much about them.
40:55Yeah.
40:55That you didn't know before.
40:56They're just so different from any other animal.
40:59Like, how many other animals can fly?
41:01Not many.
41:02Very few bats.
41:04They weren't always my thing.
41:06It's actually fairly recently.
41:07Once Stanley got us to first do bird painting.
41:12Because I've always had an interest in birds.
41:15But I've also always had an interest in pretty much everything.
41:17Everything.
41:18Yeah, me too.
41:19I'm going to let this little guy lay down.
41:23Why is it important to do this sort of thing with the kids?
41:27Like, for me, my personal passion is with animals.
41:31But also, I just really like to inspire the next generations.
41:35You know?
41:35You see the students, when they see something they've never experienced before, they're
41:40opening their eyes and feel like, oh my god, this is amazing.
41:44But those are the moments that I feel like, you know, I want to be a teacher.
41:47I want to get them really, really interested in nature.
41:50I think that once you kindle that fire and it really starts burning, the fire of passion
41:54for nature and the environment and for birds, it actually is very long lasting.
41:59Yeah, absolutely.
42:00Ooh.
42:02Every single day, across Australia, citizen scientists like Stanley and his students share
42:08their energy, skill and bird sightings to help enhance our understanding of urban birds.
42:16And direct conservation action to where it's most needed.
42:24Oh mate, that's a bit rude.
42:29There you go, there you go.
42:46Birds bring us so much joy.
42:49Yeah, and sometimes they're a little bit annoying too.
42:52But really, the fleeting moments we spend with birds are tiny, tiny parts of their whole
42:59life.
42:59Their urban lives are so closely intertwined with ours that we influence one another.
43:06Most importantly, they serve as a messenger for conservation.
43:10When they struggle, so might we.
43:20Join me on a wild journey as we take a look at the secret lives of Brisbane's birds.
43:27Over the course of one day, I'll see how some birds struggle to survive having us as neighbours,
43:34while others have made themselves right at home in our homes.
43:40Oh, a bit of aimlessly fiddling with leaf litter.
43:42Yeah, yeah.
43:43I think he's trying to look cool.
43:45He's trying to look cool.
43:49And on top of that, there's cultural birds.
44:00I don't think potato's actually in your designated diet.
44:05It wasn't quite the type of bird that I was expecting to see in an inner city park, but
44:10there you go.
44:12I'm getting bit on the butt!
44:14.
44:14.
44:15.
44:15.
44:15.
44:15.
44:16.
44:16.
44:16.
Comments