More birds in re-covered lands
The chestnut-rumped thornbill is one of the recovering species. Image: David Cook Wildlife Photograph/Flickr CC Well-planned revegetation on farms in southern Australia is leading to marked recovery in native woodland bird populations a major scientific study has found – and one of the main beneficiaries is the weebill, Australia’s tiniest bird.Researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions (CEED) have found strong evidence in a five-year study that revegetation programs can have a strongly beneficial effect on both woodland bird numbers and mix of species.“It sounds absolutely obvious, that if you increase native vegetation you get more birds – but, surprisingly, worldwide there is very little hard evidence to show what impacts the billions of dollars spent on landscape restoration are having,” says Professor David Lindenmayer of CEED and the Australian National University.“This, to our knowledge, is the first study to show an unequivocal return on the major investment made...