Ever wondered how birds fly? How do chicks develop inside eggs? The biology of birds is explained in the Birds Exhibition and covers topics such as flight, behaviour, and evolution. This exhibition displays much of Australia's unique and abundant bird life and is organised in taxonomic sequence.
Come and see cockatoos, lyrebirds, honeyeaters, bowerbirds, an Emu with chicks and listen to an array of bird songs. Take the rare opportunity to get close to a Night Parrot - one of only 24 specimens in the world.
The exhibition includes a replica of the striking fossil of Archaeopteryx, which points to the reptilian ancestry of birds. Fossil records show the advent, decline or extinction of different groups of birds during the last 35 million years.
The forelimbs of birds have been modified as wings that provide lift and propulsion. Some birds have lost the power of flight and their wings and other body parts related to flight have undergone further changes.
Many other features of birds are directly related to their conquest of the air. The best known is the feather. Another is hollow bones, which help reduce the weight of birds, without loss of strength.
A number of Australian bird species migrate, making regular return journeys between different areas at different times of the year. The exhibition covers the why and how of migration and its navigation, which remain among the 'great mysteries' of the animal world. Migration for some birds is a part of the ongoing cycle of attracting mates, building nests, hatching eggs and raising young.
On your next visit to the Australian Museum check the What's on sign for the Birds Activity Station times.
There are a number of activities relating to the Birds Exhibition that you can be involved in. Find out more:
Find out more about Birds:
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