Bird conservation and digital product studio; surprising similarities (Part 1)

Working in the digital space might seem worlds away from conservation, but the more we chatted with Dr. Liberty Olds (Dr. Lib), about bird conservation and her work with the Orange Bellied Parrot, the more similarities began popping up. 

In business, we fling around words like innovation and trailblazing, but Dr. Lib and her team are the kinds of people who eat innovation for breakfast. One of the simplest examples of this? Tracking wildlife.

While standardised methods of tracking do exist (like attaching miniscule radios that emit a trackable sound frequency), there are plenty of challenges to get around, too. One of the most common is when birds are too small for some of the more traditional methods (tags can easily slide off spindly legs), and conservationists have to break away from convention and dive into their craft supplies. 

From forging tiny bird backpacks containing tracking materials, to attaching tiny tags to the birds, to something as simple as painting tail feathers or claws with nail polish, there’s always a way to track the tiny creatures. We were astounded to hear of the innovative but also gorgeously simple methods of tracking that the team came up with - and loved to hear how deeply into the craft cupboard they had to dig!

Impressed with the innovation of the amazing conservationists? We’ve found more parallels between our work and theirs that’s a little less obvious - so keep an eye out for more surprising similarities coming your way.