Tiny solar backpacks could help save the plains wanderer – one of Australia’s most endangered birds

Researchers hope to learn about movement of small birds using solar-powered devices tracked by satellite

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A joint plan to save an endangered bird species from extinction is benefitting from an experimental tool - tiny solar-powered backpacks.

Plains wanderers are small, fawn-coloured, ground-dwelling birds with speckled throats that live in the semi-arid grasslands of north-western Victoria and the New South Wales Riverina.

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