Penny Olsen is one of the world's foremost authorities on raptors, and has contributed several chapters to the Handbook of Australian New Zealand and Antarctic Birds Vol 2 Raptors to Lapwings (OUP 1993) and Handbook of the Birds of the World, Vol II (Lynx Editions 1994).

She has worked in the field on various birds of prey for nearly three decades, and published several books, including Australian Birds of Prey (UNSW Press 1995), Feather and Brush: Three Centuries of Australian Bird Art (CSIRO Publishing 2001) and Wedge-tailed Eagle (CSIRO Publishing 2006).

Currently she edits Wingspan, the quarterly membership magazine of Birds Australia, Australia s national birding organization and oldest conservation organization.

In 2004, she was awarded an H.L. White Fellowship at the National Library to research a book on the extinct Paradise Parrot, Glimpses of Paradise: The Quest for the Beautiful Parrakeet (National Library of Australia 2007).