The characteristics of habitats preferred by the southern subspecies of Squatter Pigeon Geophaps scripta scripta remain poorly understood. We intersected high-precision records of Southern Squatter Pigeon occurrences and nests with various environmental spatial datasets and measured ground vegetation cover in a subset of vegetation communities associated with records to characterise the habitat associations of this subspecies across its range in Queensland. Southern Squatter Pigeons showed a preference for alluvial plain landforms but also used a range of other landform types. Similarly, most nest records were on alluvial plains. Southern Squatter Pigeons were associated with gentle slopes averaging 0.64–2.36° in all land zones, with 95% of records on slopes <3.3°. They were mostly recorded in eucalypt woodlands, particularly those dominated by Reid River Box Eucalyptus brownii or Poplar Box E. populnea, Narrow-leaved Red Ironbark E. crebra or Queensland Grey Ironbark E. drepanophylla, Silver-leaved Ironbark E. melanophloia, and River Red Gum E. camaldulensis or Forest Red Gum E. tereticornis. The records were located an average distance of 496 ± 554 m from the nearest perennial water source and 95% were within 1.7 km of a perennial water source. Nests were located 245 ± 214 m from a perennial watersource. Average ground vegetation cover in remnant or high-value regrowth communities inhabited by Southern Squatter Pigeons ranged between 24% and 73%.

Fledgling productivity of two pairs of Black Falcons Falco subniger was studied in the Bacchus Marsh district of Victoria over 11 breeding seasons (2014–2024), with a third nesting pair known but no fledging outcomes determined. Nests were appropriated stick nests of corvids and medium-to-large raptors, in the canopies of common local eucalypts in the agricultural landscape, and situated >6 m (mostly >10 m) above ground. Fledging occurred in September–October, following egg-laying in July–August. From 81% nest success over 11 years, at least 1.7 fledglings were raised per pair per year (n = 15 nest-years) and 1.6 raised per attempt, including a failed repeat attempt within a year. Mean and modal brood sizes at fledging were 2.0 and 2, respectively (brood size range 1–4), and the sex ratio of 26 fledglings was close to parity (11 male, 13 female, two unsexed). Causes of failure were storms destroying nests with chicks, and one ground-roosting fledgling was killed by a predator. Successive nests of each pair were clustered in a core territory of radius 1–2 km (Pair 1) or 0.8–1 km (Pair 2), with long-term site fidelity. The nesting areas of the three pairs were at the points of an equilateral triangle separated by 18 km, although there may have been additional breeding pairs in the district. We present historical notes by the late Len Harvey (oologist) for comparison with the present situation in the study area. On the basis of our data on productivity, inferred nesting density and extrapolated likely population size, the Black Falcon’s current official listing as Critically Endangered in Victoria may warrant reassessment as Endangered.

An adult of the endemic, globally threatened (Vulnerable) New Britain Goshawk Tachyspiza princeps was photographed in the rainforest at Pomio, in the Nakanai Ranges of New Britain, Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea, on 16 March 2024. This represents the first photograph and only so-confirmed record of the species in 55 years. The forest habitat of this species is threatened by clearing, logging and mining.

Three groups of fluorescing pigments in the plumage of birds of Australo-Papua and elsewhere have been known for a while, all restricted to certain groups of non-passerines. Recently, fluorescing plumage in several species of birds-of-paradise (Paradisaeidae) and other passerines has been reported, the first evidence of this in this group of birds. This raises the question of the nature of this unidentified pigment and its possible distribution elsewhere in the Passeriformes.

A comparison of proportions of major skeletal elements of the fore- and hindlimbs shows considerable uniformity among the Sacred Kingfisher Todiramphus sanctus and other Australian species of Todiramphus, whereas species of paradise kingfishers Tanysiptera and yellow-billed kingfishers Syma have relatively longer distal leg elements. Kookaburra species Dacelo have proportionally shorter distal elements, a trend that is very marked in the Azure Kingfisher Ceyx azureus and other water kingfishers of genus Ceyx.

This note records a sighting of a male Red-backed Fairy-wren Malurus melanocephalus, identified readily by its distinctive breeding plumage, in Hazelbrook in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales. Although the species appears to have historically occurred in the Sydney region, its distribution contracted north soon after European settlement, with modern records placing Dungog and the Myall Lakes area as the southern limits. Our sighting occurred ~180 km south-west of these locations. This bird may have been an escapee from captivity or a vagrant, or there may be an established population of the species in the vicinity that is yet to be documented. It was observed in a flock of brown-coloured fairy-wrens; however, we were not certain whether these individuals were conspecifics or other species of fairy-wrens.

The Australian Water-rat or Rakali Hydromys chrysogaster is an opportunistic predator known to feed on a variety of aquatic species, as well as birds’ eggs and carrion. Although Rakali often share habitat with Little Penguins Eudyptula minor, documented predation events are rare. Trail cameras were installed in eight Penguin nests along the breakwater in St Kilda, Victoria, over one Penguin breeding season. Cameras recorded one instance of a Rakali killing a Penguin chick that was being guarded by an adult, and another of a Rakali scavenging a dead chick. This represents the first video evidence of Rakali preying on and consuming Little Penguins, and the first recorded instance of an attack on a chick under adult supervision. These observations suggest that Rakali predation on Little Penguins may be more common than previously thought.

A comprehensive dataset of bird flight heights, collected for baseline onshore wind farm bird utilisation surveys across three Queensland Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) bioregions, was compiled to identify avian species or groups at elevated risk of collision with wind turbines. The dataset comprised over 3600 individual point-count surveys from eight survey areas, recording a total of 69,987 flight events from 143 species. A total of 5781 flight events occurred at heights within the theoretical Rotor-Swept Area (tRSA); birds that fly more regularly at these heights are inherently at increased risk of collision with wind turbines. Several guilds with increased collision risk were identified, including aerial insectivores (Apodidae, Meropidae, Artamidae), diurnal raptors (Accipitridae, Falconidae) and large waterbirds (Phalacrocoracidae, Threskiornithidae). The threatened and migratory White-throated Needletail Hirundapus caudacutus and migratory Pacific Swift Apus pacificus were among the species considered most at risk based on their flight data. Here we present the most comprehensive collation of diurnal bird flight height data currently available for Australia. These data provide a critical baseline for understanding potential bird interactions with wind energy infrastructure, informing both pre-construction risk assessment and broader conservation planning.

The foraging behaviour and success of the Eastern Barn Owl Tyto javanica delicatula were studied by JGM in an agricultural area of north-western Victoria in 1988–1990, by means of quantifying the owls’ nocturnal search and attack methods (n = 97 observations) and success rates (n = 55 observations) by habitat (open fields vs denser verge habitats) and season. Stationary perch-hunting formed 75%, low slow quartering 21% and sustained hovering 4% of observations. Terrestrial prey was captured by glide attacks from perches (75%) and hover-drop attacks from quartering flight (25%). Overall capture success rate of Barn Owls was 60%; glide attacks were successful on 64% of attempts, and hover-drop attacks on 40%. Overall, 65% of attacks were made in verge habitats and 35% in field habitats, although success was higher in field habitats (72%) than in verge habitats (54%). Perch-hunting comprised 85% of observations during autumn–winter and 64% during spring–summer, whereas quartering was recorded more frequently during spring–summer (32%) than during autumn– winter (11%). Verge habitats were more important during autumn–winter (87% of attacks) than spring–summer (39%). Perch-hunting was used throughout the night, but quartering and hovering were used after dusk and before dawn, more so in spring–summer than in autumn–winter.