Backyard Buzz turns its focus to urban nature, with two conversations exploring how cities can better support wildlife. Ecologist Dr Jacinta Humphrey discusses birdlife around Melbourne, from eastern rosellas and yellow-tailed black cockatoos to the importance of diverse vegetation. She explains how native plants, messy nature strips, and insect-rich gardens - even small ones - can help birds return over time. Her message is simple: if you build habitat, wildlife will follow.

Later, conservation biologist Dr Kylie Soanes dives into the floating wetlands now appearing in the Birrarung/Yarra River. She explains how these floating islands reconnect land and water in heavily built-up river systems, creating new ecosystems in places where greenery can’t grow. Designed to attract species like sacred kingfishers, the project is now world-leading, with councils across Victoria and NSW adopting the model - proof, as Kylie puts it, that kindness to the landscape is contagious.