Tales from the Bush: Firebirds and Wildfires in Northern Australia

In a remote corner of Australia, stories are being shared that have been passed down for over 50,000 years. They talk about life across a landscape of fire and rusted sand. One legend in particular tells the tale of the firehawks, birds that hunt around wildfires and even spread fire themselves. This phenomenon has recently gained the attention of the scientific community, but we are still missing a lot of detailed information. Inspired by this local ecological knowledge, we conducted an observational study in rural Australia to help us build a more complete picture.

[This video won the council prize at the ASAB Winter 2023 Conference video contest]