Please give now to help ensure ancient Australian landscapes don’t lose what makes them come alive – the birds that call them home.
It has been overlooked for too long. Not anymore.
BirdLife Australia has a strategic and adaptive plan to save the Mukarrthippi Grasswren, Red-lored Whistler, Eastern Regent Parrot and other unique Mallee birds – but we can’t pull it off without you.
Our birds need your help to protect and restore their habitat. They need your help to manage fire. And they need your help so our scientists can gather more evidence on what these birds really need to adapt to the growing impacts of climate change.
Together, we can protect and drive the recovery of our precious native birds so that the quintessentially Australian Mallee flourishes for future generations.
Please donate today to help stop extinction.
can help monitor and understand cryptic and shy Mallee birds, like the Mukarrthippi Grasswren.
can help build resilient habitat for our native birds to survive the effects of climate change.
can help manage fire responses and reduce the threat of catastrophic fire wiping out bird populations.
Your donation will support the most urgent actions needed to save threatened Australian birds.
The landscape colloquially known as ‘the Mallee’ is an area of low-lying arid plains with rolling red sand dunes and green mallee trees.
It sits within the 19 million hectare ‘Murray-Darling Depression’ bioregion that crosses over New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria, and it was once a sprawling landscape, alive with uniquely Australian vegetation.
But now, the ecosystems here are in an extremely precarious position, due to a fatal combination of human-driven habitat destruction and the impacts of climate change. And with no home, some of our most threatened Mallee birds will disappear too.
Over 20 of our most threatened Mallee birds face a perilous future. In fact, they’re so vulnerable and at risk of extinction that they’re listed as an Endangered Ecological Community under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.
One bird which lives here, the cryptic, Critically Endangered Mukarrthippi Grasswren (pronounced ‘moo-kwaa-tippy’), is considered to be Australia’s most endangered bird. Fewer than 20 are estimated to be left.
When disturbed, they burst from between the spiky clumps of spinifex they live in and dash across open patches of ground. But they can’t outrun threats like catastrophic fire – and experts predict that just two more fires could cause their extinction.
It’s heartbreaking to think that when future generations visit the Mallee, they might not see these little grasswrens foraging on the ground or hear the tuneful ‘chew-chew-chew’ call of the Red-lored Whistler ringing out across the trees.
The Mallee would be a desolate environment, missing what makes it come alive – our native birds.
We have a robust, evidence-based plan to protect and drive the recovery of threatened Mallee birds.
It’s called the Threatened Mallee Bird Conservation Action Plan and it’s underpinned by collaboration between governments, non-government organisations, universities and community groups across Australia. It’s bold and vital – and we need your help to make it happen.
Your donation today can help:
It’s up to us to protect nature and the birds we love. Together, with your support, we can save the spectacular birds of the Mallee and ensure a brighter future for generations to come. But we need to act now.
Please donate today to help us take immediate action – to save birds and to save life.
cryptic and shy Mallee birds, like the Mukarrthippi Grasswren.
for our native birds to survive the effects of climate change.
reduce the threat of catastrophic fire wiping out bird populations.
5 reasons for strong nature laws
Home to a number of threatened birds, ‘The Mallee’ is a semi-arid zone centred on the Murray Mallee region of Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia. It supports extensive and intact old-growth Mallee vegetation, although it has been affected by widespread habitat clearance and bushfires.
