Your Backyard Birds

The remarkable relationships between our often cheeky birds and humans in Australian backyards all over the country are revealed with humour and charm. An ideal gift for any bird lover.

A beautiful, inspiring and heartwarming book about our human relationships with the birds who share our backyards.

'Do you ever wonder what birds are talking about as they fly by you? The sounds and songs of birds constantly surround us as we go about our lives. But what are they talking about? Or are they even talking or just mindlessly squawking and chirping? Why are so many urban birds so loud? Is there a message in what the birds are telling each other?'

Observing and interacting with all the different birds who visit Australian backyards leads naturally to questions about their behaviours, habits and needs. Why are they visiting? What do they want from us? For a bird, life in Australia means having mates: others who you can trust and work with to locate food and water, which can disappear as suddenly as it appears. As the humans who plant the gardens they live in and visit, what can we learn from Australia's often-cheeky birds?

With a foreword by science journalist and broadcaster Robyn Williams, AM, and chapters dedicated to discovering extraordinary information about Australia's innovative birds, Your Backyard Birds is a delightful and compelling read. With real stories from bird-loving citizen scientists, this fascinating book features new insights about the lives of our avian friends.

Your Backyard Birds provides a fresh and lively perspective on human interaction with birds, written by a wildlife ecologist who is passionate about the vital role of citizen scientists.

About the Author

Dr Grainne Cleary is an Irish wildlife ecologist who now lives in Melbourne and works at Deakin University. Her primary area of interest is working with the public through citizen science to gain the best outcomes for urban wildlife, particularly in how people interact with birds in their backyards. She believes our behaviour can have a huge influence on urban wildlife and how native animals can use our gardens as a sanctuary in otherwise inhospitable environments.