Steve Irwin Day is celebrated annually on 15th November   to honour the life, legacy, and conservation work of the legendary zookeeper and "Crocodile Hunter," Steve Irwin. 

The day  is celebrated on 15th November because it was the birthday of Harriet, the much loved Galapagos tortoise who lived at Australia Zoo. People are encouraged to wear khaki and donate to Wildlife Warriors, a global conservation charity set up by Steve and Terri Irwin in 2002.

Although Steve Irwin died on 4th September, 2006 while filming on the Barrier Reef, his legacy lives on through the zoo and his family, wife Terri, daughter Bindi and son Robert.

To celebrate this day you could read a biography about Steve Irwin

Read 

Or embark on a series of books associated with either Bindi or Robert.

This series is still read in my library by Year 2 girls.

This series is only popular with dinosaur-loving readers now.

16th - 22nd November Bugs in My Backyard Week

Bugs in My Backyard Week kicks off between 16–22 November, so now's the perfect time to download the iNaturalist app, join the Bugs in My Backyard 2026 project, and get ready to go bug hunting! It is a national citizen science campaign run by Invertebrates Australia and the Invasive Species Council. Australians are invited to explore their backyards, school grounds and local parks to discover the fascinating insects, spiders, snails and other tiny creatures that keep our environment healthy.

 

All you need to do is snap photos of bugs and upload them to iNaturalist.

Here’s how it works:

1. Download the free iNaturalist app

2. Join the Bugs in My Backyard Week 2026 project

3. Head outside between 16-22 November and snap photos of the insects, spiders, snails and worms you find.

4. Upload your sightings to the app!

Why it matters: About 70% of Australia’s invertebrates are still unknown to science Invasive bugs like fire ants and shot-hole borers arrive as hitchhikers and spread unnoticed. More eyes on the ground means we catch new incursions sooner.

Identifying Australian bugs can be done with a book such as this one:

or this

or with younger children revisit and have fun with these:

7th - 15th November Australian Pollinator Week

It’s Australian Pollinator Week and time to celebrate the amazing animals like bees, birds, butterflies, bats, beetles, reptiles, and flies that keep our planet alive.

Australian Pollinator Week was founded by Dr Megan Halcroft, of Bees Business, in November 2015. It followed on from a community project called “Bee Aware of Your Native Bees”, which was funded by Western Sydney University and the Environmental Trust.

Australian Pollinator Week acknowledges our important and unique insect pollinators during Australia’s southern spring (November). It is a designated week when communities, businesses and organisations can come together to raise awareness of the importance of pollinators and support their needs.

Through group activities, community members can learn together as they help to support pollinators. By engaging communities in schools, retirement villages, art groups, gardening clubs, community gardens, local council areas, Landcare groups and neighbourhoods we can increase awareness and act on our increased knowledge.

I wish I had known about this week earlier. The website is so good, complete with activities, information and photographs. Put it in the diary for next year and use these books:

11th November ABC Invertebrate of the Year : the Gold Christmas Beetle

(Supplied: Alan Henderson, Minibeast Wildlife)

The gold Christmas beetle is the newly crowned 2026 ABC Australian Insect of the Year.

A grand total of 44,472 people voted for the third ABC Australian Insect of the Year, with 17,454 nominating the gold Christmas beetle (Anoplognathus aureus) among a field of six finalists. 

 (Supplied: Peter Rowland, PRPW)

A formidable mosquito hunter with tiger-striped wings was named Australia's top insect for 2025.

The graphic flutterer dragonfly (Rhyothemis graphiptera) captured more than a quarter of all votes in an October online poll to snare the title of 2025 ABC Australian Insect of the Year.

(Supplied: Kit Prendergast, The Bee Babette)

In 2024 a cute, vividly coloured native bee with a very distinctive buzz, the Blue-banded Bee was  the ABC's first Australian Insect of the Year.

There are 35 known species of Christmas beetle, says a curator, Dr Chris Reid, at Australian Museum in Sydney and they are all native to Australia.

Species include the King Beetle (Anoplognathus viridiaeneus), which used to be common in the Sydney area but is now rarely seen.

Christmas beetles are famous for their iridescent sheen, but scientists are not sure what function this serves. However the really shiny examples, such as the Gold Christmas Beetle (Anoplognathus aureus) are found in the tropical rainforests of northern Australia.

Co-founders of the charity Invertebrates Australia, Dr Tanya Latty and Dr Kate Umbers are asking Australians to get involved in a project called the Christmas Beetle Count, to take photos of beetles they see and upload them to the iNaturalist website for confirmation identification. This information can then be used to start mapping numbers. The Australian museum has an app called the Xmas Beetle ID Guide to help citizen scientists check their sightings.

While scientists are short on data, anecdotally many people remember seeing large numbers of Christmas beetles around Christmas time in the past, and this no longer seems to happen. If you find a Christmas beetle this website will help you identify it.

I remember collecting Christmas beetles as a child with my siblings. We would count how many we found that day, race them on our hands and then release them, so we probably counted the same ones several times.

This fabulous book published by the CSIRO takes young readers on a lyrical discovery of these fascinating creatures and explores the possible reasons for their decrease in numbers.

Another Australian picture book that features a Christmas beetle is Laura Bunting's Coco and the Christmas Beetle. It gives a much more playful view of them.

I think the announcement was made this week in readiness for next week when it is Bugs in My Backyard Week.

19th November World Anteater Day Celebrating Ants

I have written about anteaters before, here, and there has not been a lot more anteater picture books since then, so that got me thinking about 'ants' and how many wonderful books there is about them.

There is a day to celebrate anteaters, but there is no official holiday called "Ant Day". I think that's sad. Other insects and mini beasts have their own day, why not ants? Even termites who are often called white ants when they are not true ants have their own day. The 17th August is Termites Awareness Day. 

So I'm making this Anteater and Ant Day and putting together a display in the library about them both!

There is quite a choice when it comes to ant books, even some stories.