This Christmas, forget Mariah Carey and Michael Bublé, why not chuck on some traditional Aussie tunes instead? Maybe the sound of Australia’s 53 rarest birds perhaps? 

 

Songs of Disappearance is an album created by Birdlife Australia and The Bowerbird Collective, that features the song and sounds of birds from across the country.

The album has flown to the top of the ARIA charts this week, surpassing Chrissy favourites like Bublé and Mariah to reach the top five, with over 3,000 sales since its release on December 3rd. 

The tweets, squawks, chirps, and trills that make up the album took a lot longer to record than the average studio session!

All the bird recordings on Songs of Disappearance were captured by wildlife sound recordist David Stewart. David’s spent his 40 year career seeking out the most elusive and rare birds in an effort to capture their sound on tape, sometimes staking out one spot for hours just to catch a snippet only seconds long.

On the album you’ll hear avian artists the likes of bowerbirds, seabirds, the well-known squawks that come from a crackle of cockatoos, and even the haunting call of one of the last known night parrots. 

The project was inspired by a report produced by Birdlife Australia and Charles Darwin University that confirms one in six Australian birds are now under threat. All proceeds from the purchase of the albums will go directly to Birdlife Australia and the effort to support these threatened species. 

That means to contribute you gotta actually purchase the album, not just tune in on Spotify! Here’s a little taste tester to get you hooked.