The shortlist features some birds hit by bushfires and a few urban ‘bullies’ that dominate as cities grow
• The Guardian/BirdLife Australia 2021 bird of the year poll begins on Monday
Blue Mountains resident Carol Probets remembers the gang-gang cockatoo as a bird that was commonly spotted in the region in the 1980s.
“You’d see them really often, most times when you went walking both in the bush but especially around the towns actually,” Probets says.