Stunning photos demonstrate why Darwin is known as the 'city of birds'

Darwin is a self-proclaimed "city of birds" with everything from loud curlews to colourful finches, and even a rare all-black kookaburra, calling the region home. There are about 200 species of bush birds, and another 50 to 100 waterfowl, seabirds and shorebirds living in the Northern Territory's Top End. Charles Darwin University ornithology researcher, John Woinarski, says the seasonal climate and sparse local population help make it a safe haven for many species that have been wiped out elsewhere. "We share this environment with a whole range of birds that are distinctive, amusing, quirky, interesting, and sort of feel as if they themselves own the place," Professor Woinarski says. "Compared to most other cities in Australia, they're all native birds — there's not the high densities of birds from Europe that characterise much of the rest of Australia." Professor Woinarski believes the "in your face" nature of certain colourful and noisy species has also contributed to Darwin's reputation as the "city of birds". "I think there's global recognition that this is a really interesting part of the world for birdwatchers, or for people interested in environment generally," he says. "We've got the fortune that so many of these bird species and important sites for them fall on Indigenous lands, and ranger groups are really important for managing those lands." From the dry red-dirt outback, to tropical wetlands and stone country in the World Heritage-protected Kakadu National Park, Professor Woinarski describes the Top End as a "fascinating patchwork of different sorts of habitats". "If you were simply to listen to the bird soundscape of Darwin, you could tell what time of year [and season] it was," he says. In one very lucky rural Darwin backyard, an all-black blue-winged kookaburra — more rare than an albino kookaburra — has become a regular visitor. Professor Woinarski says it's "quite an interesting find" that likely resulted from a mutation in the bird's melanin levels. He describes the genetic anomaly as a total "fluke". As citizen science project The Aussie Bird Count kicks off this month, we're taking a look at some of the whimsical species recently photographed across the Top End's unique landscape. "It's an ever-enticing game to try to continue to hone your bird identification skills … every bird that you come to understand gives a different perspective of the world," Professor Woinarski says. "It's a never-ending quest to try to understand nature and how wonderful it is."