Superb fairywrens disappearing in Australia’s capital: Conserving insects could help save them

Superb fairywrens, voted Australia's bird of the year in 2021, are declining sharply despite appearing common in gardens across the east coast, South Australia and Tasmania. A long-term study at the Australian National Botanic Gardens, tracking the birds since 1988, found that during the 2025 Australian winter more than half of adult birds and 95% of juveniles in the gardens died, a toll researchers attribute to warm autumn temperatures followed by sudden cold.

Researcher Damien Farine modeled the species' future under various emissions scenarios and found extinction likely within 30-40 years under intermediate to high-emissions projections. The actual decline in the two years since has already outpaced even the worst-case model. Scientists link the losses to poor breeding in dry springs and a broader collapse in insect populations, which fairywrens depend on for food, with Australia reportedly losing one to three invertebrate species weekly.

Conservationists suggest planting native, insect-friendly shrubs in gardens, balconies and community plots as a partial remedy, alongside preserving dense, tangled vegetation that shelters the birds while hunting. Experts caution that food is only one piece of the puzzle, and that structural habitat loss compounds the threat.

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