Forty students called like kookaburras at the Bournda Bird Olympics

Forty students spent an hour imitating kookaburras, Australian ravens, and yellow-tailed black cockatoos at the Bournda Bird Olympics in Merimbula. ABC News reported on October 26, 2026, that Tathra Public School won the ninth running of the contest, hosted by the Bournda Environmental Education Centre.

Judges scored accuracy, technique, and tone, and also creativity and courage. Judge Bob Harris said the scores landed close together and that the point is to get children interested in the living world around them. Most of the teams came from the far south coast, including Tathra, Bega, Pambula, Wyndham, Central Tilba, and Wolumla.

Nimmitabel Public School, from the Snowy Mountains, entered for the first time. Principal Rosie Allen said six students had practiced for two months, often in the playground at recess, and that all 13 students at the school rode more than an hour to the coast to cheer. Bruce Chapman, who called birds in contests in the 1950s, told ABC he was glad to see school teams take the old skill up again and hoped more schools would join.