Updated December 29, 2025 — 3:32pm,first published December 29, 2025 — 2:39pm
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Kylie Conroy’s Inala backyard is normally full of magpies.
“Sometimes there can be up to 40 of them back here,” she says, standing next to her Hills Hoist with her hands on her hips, as their chortling song rings across the neighbourhood’s streets.
But earlier this month the birds started dying, seemingly at random.
Kylie Conroy has been moving the unwell birds into her backyard. Julius Dennis
“This is where I buried six of them,” Conroy says, pointing at one patch of overturned earth in the garden, then another. “I buried some more over there.”
Since December 14, Conroy has counted 31 birds who died in her yard or were taken to the RSPCA wildlife hospital in Wacol, a 10-minute drive through Brisbane’s outer south-west.
When this masthead visited on Monday, two magpies lay crumpled on the ground as another pair hung nearby, occasionally trying to rouse their mates with song.
The plastic bags are full of dead birds.Julius Dennis
Two pink plastic bags sat at the edge of the lawn, the scent of rotting animal wafting on the breeze.
Conroy said the unwell and dead birds had been found in her yard and two of her neighbours’ yards. Other neighbours have not reported issues with the birds at their places.
“My mum has lived here for 54 years, and we have a beautiful backyard, very wildlife friendly. We’ve had season after season of magpies,” Conroy said.
Since first reporting the dying birds, Conroy said her efforts to get someone to pick up their carcasses and figure out what has killed them had been stymied by bureaucracy.
A healthy bird inspects another who is unable to fly.Julius Dennis
Brisbane City Council sent someone from the roadkill clean-up unit on Christmas Eve, whom Conroy said she convinced to help bury the birds in the backyard.
Eventually, she called the Emergency Animal Disease (EAD) Hotline, which prompted the RSPCA to send an animal rescue vehicle to the house and take seven of the birds.
All of those birds, along with one that Conroy brought to the hospital earlier, were euthanised after their repository issues worsened.
The bodies have been sent to a state biosecurity facility in Coopers Plains for testing.
Conroy’s yard has become a grave for the neighbourhood’s birds.Julius Dennis
An RSPCA spokesperson said they were investigating the spate of deaths with other relevant authorities.
The spokesperson urged members of the public not to touch birds they believe are unwell.
They said people should call the EAD Hotline on 1800 675 888 immediately if they observe unusual bird deaths or suspect highly pathogenic avian influenza.
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H5N1, the highly contagious strain of bird flu, has spread across much of Asia, Europe, North and South America, Africa and Antarctica, killing hundreds of millions of birds and at least tens of thousands of mammals.
The strain has not yet been detected in mainland Australia, although experts say it is only a matter of time before it reaches our shores.
Queensland’s Department of Primary Industries (DPI), which monitors whether bird flu has entered the country, said it was working with the RSPCA.
A spokesperson for the Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation said it could investigate the cause of the birds’ deaths once a report was lodged.
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