Move over, birds of Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. You may have entertained with your strange habits and ingenious adaptability in Dr Ann Jones’ 2023 ABC miniseries, The Secret Lives of Our Urban Birds. But your cousins across the Nullarbor are an altogether different breed. Quite literally, in some cases.

In her Perth instalment of the Catalyst series, Jones, the ABC’s resident “bird nerd” meets the promiscuous splendid fairy wren, the beach-dwelling fairy tern, the troublesome rainbow lorikeet and even the notoriously shy red-tailed black cockatoo, all making their homes alongside humans. But bird lovers beware: there are tears in this documentary, and fears, as Jones learns of an imminent threat to WA’s iconic black swan.

“The birding community has had their hearts in their mouths for about the last 18 months about this bird flu,” says Jones. “It’s potentially catastrophic. Those swans that have no built-up immunity are particularly vulnerable. The swans that have got it in the zoological gardens in other parts of the world just drop dead almost instantaneously, so it’s a huge worry.”

With the Central Desert acting as a “wall to evolution,” many non-migratory birds of WA are genetically separate from those in the East. This made the two-week shoot, which covers a day of birdwatching in and around Perth, exciting for the Victorian-raised presenter.

“The black cockies are a shock to see [in the city],” says Jones. “The rainbow lorikeets being a pest might be a shock to some people. They exist over on the east coast, but 10 were released in WA back in the ’70s, and now there are bloody thousands of them. This is one of those interesting cases where this is a feral bird, but it’s a native Australian bird that’s not indigenous to that area. Because of its behavioural characteristics, it can have a large impact on the local birdlife because it will bully other birds. They just scream at them until they move on, and that, in the short term, can change the bird species makeup of a suburb.”

Jones is visibly affected throughout her journey. At a primary school, pupils present her with a local birdlife guidebook they have made.

“The depth of passion that I got from those kiddos was really moving,” she says. “A lot of birding is a solo hobby. You spend a lot of time by yourself being quiet. So to meet other friends was quite moving, and you realise that you’re not alone in your passions. And it was wonderful to meet the next generation of bird nerds.”

The world stops as she watches ornithologist Simon Cherriman climb a tree to retrieve a wedge-tailed eagle chick. Then, to her amazement, he asks Jones to hold it as he attaches a tracking band to its leg.