The impact of European settlers on Australian birds has been this.

• The present habitats of Australia's most endangered birds were compared to pre-European (1750) environments by researchers.
  
• According to the study, 69 percent of the country is devoid of some of the country's most enigmatic bird species.
• Deforestation and urbanisation are to blame for Australia's vast local extinction of birds.

According to a new study, threatened birds have vanished from nearly 70% of Australia since European colonisation.

The pre-European (1750) habitats of Australia's most endangered birds were mapped and compared to present habitats.

According to Michelle Ward, a PhD candidate at the University of Queensland School of Earth and Environmental Sciences and a member of the World Wildlife Fund Australia, the findings should be exceedingly alarming to Australians.

"Some of the country's most enigmatic bird species are gone from 69 percent of the country." Furthermore, ten birds have gone extinct in 99 percent of their historical habitat, with their remaining areas becoming significantly more fragmented.

"While Australia is renowned for having some of the world's most pristine ecosystems, there has been a huge extinction of wild species across much of the continent.

"Human activities related with forestry, agricultural expansion, urbanisation, and mining have driven—and continue to drive—extinctions and population declines since European colonisation.

"Prior to this study, there was little understanding of what the bird fauna might have been in some parts, and what has vanished, but tragically, our once-bird-rich continent is no longer."

According to James Watson, professor of environmental management in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, "the study is a timely reminder that the arrival of Europeans resulted in drastic changes to Australia's birdlife."

"Species like the eastern star finch used to be widespread from Northern NSW to Queensland's Burdekin River, but it hasn't been sighted since 1995 and is likely extinct," he says. "Other species, such as the regent honeyeater, used to be found in flocks of thousands from Adelaide to north of Brisbane.

"Now there are just about 100 breeding pairs of this species in three places in New South Wales." This study discovered that this species has gone locally extinct in over 90% of its historical habitat, owing primarily to land clearing."

Ward is concerned about the future of Australian animals if nothing is done.

"The storey of decline isn't restricted to threatened species; common birds like willie wagtails, brolgas, boobook owls, and even magpies are now extinct in many areas where they were formerly plentiful," she says.

"This study should spark a discussion about the true threats to Australia's biodiversity and inform conservation strategy." It's past time for us to take a more sophisticated, species-specific approach to saving these endangered birds."