• Publications

• Gang-gang Newsletter
• Canberra Bird Notes
  • Using the Canberra Bird Notes search facility
• Birds of Canberra Gardens Book
  • A Canberra Bird Garden
    • Position
    • Structure
    • Using Local Plants
    • Food
    • Putting Out Food
    • Water
    • Nesting and Nest Boxes
    • Some Recommended Plants
  • About the Birds of Canberra Gardens Book
    • Foreword
    • Acknowledgements
    • Dedication
    • Introduction
  • Some Conservation Issues
  • The COG Gardenbird Survey
    • The Garden Bird Survey Year
    • Weather
• Bird calls and songs CD
• Canberra Bird Routes
• Pocket Guide to the Birds of Canberra
  • About the Pocket Guide
  • Jerrabomberra Wetlands (inc. Kelly Swamp and Sewage Ponds)
  • Campbell Park
  • Australian National Botanic Gardens
  • Woodlands, Suburbs, City and Lakes
• Backyard Birds of Canberra poster
• Email Discussion List (Chatline)
• Maps, Forms and Lists
  • Campbell Park Map
  • Fyshwick Sewage Ponds
  • Kama Bird List
  • Kellys Swamp
  • View from Cygnus Hide, Kellys Swamp
  • Using COG’s data
  • Annotated Checklist of the Birds of the ACT – November 2017
  • ACT Birders’ Totals
• Other Resources
  • COG monthly meeting location

The local native Hop Bush frows to 2 metres, providing a protective middle storey of foliage

Birds are most likely to be found in gardens near or similar to their preferred habitat. For example, Satin Bowerbirds frequent gardens in Chapman, Duffy and Holder. These suburbs are closest to the wet forests of the Cotter catchment and Tidbinbilla Nature Park, where Satin Bowerbirds are common. They are one of the few wet forest residents that have adapted to the suburbs (some gardens even boast having a frequently used bower). Another wet forest resident, the Rufous Fantail, is seen occasionally in gardens near Canberra Nature Park, in Ainslie, Aranda, Cook and Weetangera. The birds move through these gardens on their annual north–south migration route. The Grey Fantail, a resident of open forest and woodland, is still found most often on the edges of suburbs, but is more widely distributed, with more frequent sightings in Campbell, Chapman, Holt and Page.

Bird diversity is generally greater near Canberra Nature Park or urban parks. Newly developing suburbs, with small gardens and few trees, tend to have fewer species and lower bird numbers.

Some birds adapt well to urban and suburban environments, and to human activity. These are the common birds of our gardens and parks, such as magpies and magpie-larks. Good examples for Canberra are the Galah (which was not sighted in Canberra before 1920), the Crested Pigeon (more recently arrived but spreading quickly) and the Common Myna (which was deliberately introduced by one person in 1968 and has spread quickly).