Draws on the natural history of Australia's charismatic birds to explore the relations between fauna, people and environment.

Introduction : boom and bust / Libby Robin and Mike Smith -- The boom and bust desert world : a bird's eye view / Libby Robin and Leo Joseph -- Barcoo bantam : 'It runs like hell!' / Graham Pizzey -- Rain and grass : lessons in how to be a zebra finch / Steve Morton -- Grey teal : survivors in a changing world / David Roshier -- Australian pelican : flexible responses to uncertainty / Julian Reid -- Night parrots : fugitives of the inland / Penny Olsen -- Genyornis : last of the dromornithids / Mike Smith -- Rainbirds : organising the country / Deborah Bird Rose -- Woodswallows : a longer term, evolutionary view of boom and bust / Leo Joseph -- White-winged choughs : the social consequences of boom and bust / Robert Heinsohn -- Emu : national symbols and ecological limits / Libby Robin.