Nestled in a coastal corner of Darwin's northern suburbs lies a patch of bushland that's become the new home of a tiny, endangered bird.
Local twitchers believe the Gouldian finch migrated north to Lee Point in search of better habitat and breeding grounds.
In doing so, it's become the mascot for a grassroots movement to stop a multi-million-dollar Defence housing project.
At a recent rally against the project in Darwin's city centre, the colourful creature was plastered over T-shirts and hand-painted signs.
Graeme Sawyer from Biodiversity Watch said the unique creature has "really got its way into people's hearts because it's so colourful".
"It's a bird that has an enormous public profile and is super cute."
Once found right across northern Australia, the most recent count of the endangered finch estimated there were fewer than 2,500 left in the wild.
No stranger to the spotlight, the finch has not only featured in a David Attenborough documentary but has also become the main attraction for twitchers in Darwin this dry season.
Mr Sawyer said he believed thousands of people have visited the area to catch a glimpse of the elusive bird.
"We estimate that over that period from sort of May till the end of August, there was over 10,000 visits to that space, and about 48 per cent of those would have been tourists," he said.
Defence project approved in 2019
Defence Housing Australia describes the proposed 800-house development as a "thriving residential community of Defence families, the local community and visitors", across 131 hectares of zoned residential land.
The first stage of clearing has already taken place.
"It is envisaged that a main street precinct will offer a tourism activity centre containing restaurants, cafes, hotels, self-contained apartments and retail shops," according to the Defence Housing Australia website.
The Defence Housing Authority argues the development will provide "much-needed" accommodation for Australian Defence Force members and their families.
A spokesperson for the authority said environmental approval "was obtained following a detailed assessment of the impacts of the project on biodiversity".
However, the authority noted it is continuing to work with "experts, with the Commonwealth Environmental Minister and the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water in relation to the project".
Mr Sawyer, who is leading the campaign to stop the second stage of clearing, believes the land would provide more benefit to the public and the economy if it was turned into a tourist attraction.
"There's something like 240 bird species that have been seen in that Casuarina Coastal Reserve, Lee Point area and that's about a quarter of Australian bird species," he said.
"Estimates in the United States are that birding is worth about $40 billion a year. That's a big industry and it could be a great thing for Darwin.
"You could offer somebody a world-class birding trip for the day in Darwin and we're not taking advantage of these things."
Mr Sawyer calls the relocation of the recovering species to Lee Point a "fantastic phenomenon" and argues the quality of the habitat is what's helped the bird revitalise its dwindling population.
"When you get an area like that, where you've got food and you've got water, the birds will come there for a period of time, but the fact that these birds seem to be resident there, and their numbers have been increasing, that indicates they're breeding close by to there as well."
"We were really worried back in the nineties, and so forth that we were going to lose it as a species, so it's had a pretty remarkable recovery in some areas."
Co-Director of the Environment Centre of the Northern Territory, Kirsty Howey said the bird's endangered status could throw a spanner in the works for the development.
"The significance of Gouldian finches being in this area is quite stark because they're listed as endangered under our federal law the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, and that puts Federal [Environment] Minister Tanya Plibersek firmly in the frame about decision making for this area," she said.
'Additional surveys' to identify Gouldian finch habitat
The community effort to lobby environment minister Tanya Plibersek's office, which includes citizen science projects, hasn't gone unnoticed in Canberra.
"We've heard that in response to the huge community outcry on this issue, Minister Plibersek is actually reviewing the situation at Lee Point, which is huge news," Ms Howey said.
A spokesperson for the environment department told the ABC that departmental officers inspected the site earlier this month and met with the Defence Housing Authority.
As a result, the department is working with the authority to conduct additional surveys to identify habitat for the Gouldian finch.
Ms Howey said the recent federal government steps had provided a sense of hope for those involved in the campaign.
"People in Darwin now truly believe that this place can be saved. It's galvanised people. It's motivated people," she said.
"This campaign has been enormously successful in that it has galvanised thousands of people in Darwin. It shouldn't be that hard to save this habitat, and to listen to the community on this issue."
The Gouldian finch caught the eye of local resident Maude Mussared who joined the "Save Lee Point" campaign after learning about its endangered status.
"I've never been a bird watcher before and just that bird that looks like it's made up, and then to see it in real life was really special," she said.
She argues the development is "short-sighted" and is worried about climate change.
"I love Darwin. I want to live here for a long time but it is reaching a point where it's going to become uninhabitable unless we plan for a warmer climate," she said.
"No one's thinking about the future for the people who have to live there. It's going to be hot, it's going to be exposed and it's going to be really sad without all of that biodiversity and nature around."
Any future decision on the development rests with the federal government.
