These Tiny Birds Need More Habitat. Can Urban Rewilding Help?

cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/1550666

"A century ago, small birds dominated around Sydney, not the large birds of today," ornithologist Tim Low wrote in his 2014 bestseller Where Song Began.

The superb fairywren - Australia's 2021 bird of the year - is the poster child for two projects aiming to bring the small birds back to city life in both Sydney and Melbourne.

"These much-loved birds are usually found in suburbs that have corridors of native bushland close by so their rapid disappearance, along with a number of other small bush birds, is cause for grave concern," BirdLife Australia said in a 2021 statement, adding that the probable cause was a loss of rich and diverse habitat due to urban sprawl and infill development.

In Melbourne, the plan to stop this loss is surprisingly simple: Boost ecological connectivity by revegetating the beautiful Royal Park, band some fairywrens for identification, and harness social media and citizen science to find out exactly where the birds live in the city - and how many there are.

In November 2022, local volunteers spent 15 minutes each in 50 locations, entering sightings of fairywrens and other small birds into BioCollect, a citizen science app.

"We're just waiting to see the extent to which those small birds can travel along the habitat corridors. We haven't noticed a huge shift yet, but that is our goal."

If possible, revegetate your own property for small birds, especially if you're near remnant habitat.