Australian birds are
just as unique
as its animals.
There are many species found nowhere else in the world, and most are
not in the Northern Hemisphere.
Emu. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to buy
Famous Australian Birds -
Emus and
Cassowaries
The two largest and some of the most amazing of all of our birds are ratities. Emu
is the country's
national emblem and a very common one to see in the outback.
Cassowary
has a
similar body shape but is black, with a blue head and
red neck wattle, and a helmet on its head. It is less common to see
than emu, as it lives in tropical rainforests of north Queensland. Both
are flightless.
Cassowary. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to buy
Strange Australian Birds
- Megapodes
Megapodes are also called mound builders because they build large
mounds as their nests. They incluse orange footed scrubfowls and
Australian brush turkeys, which, like cassowary - live in tropical
rainforests.
Brush turkey. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to
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Weird Australian Birds - Quails, Fowls and Pheasants
Quails, fowls and pheasants are also ground birds (flightless to bad
fliers). Fowls are mostly introduced or feral and include red
junglefowl, helmeted guineafowl, Indian peafowl (peacock), and wild
turkey.
Guineafowl. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to buy
Amazing Australian Birds
- Penguins
And another flightless one - in southern Australia we have five species
of penguins: King, royal, fiordland, rockhopper and little penuin. The
last one is the most common, a great place to see it is Phillip Island
in Victoria.
Little penguin. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to
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Albatrosses, Petrels and
Shearwaters
This is another group that likes the cool, southern Australian waters.
Albatrosses can be huge, with a wing span up to 3.5 metres and we have
nine species. Petrels and shearwaters are a little smaller, and there
are 29 species of the first and nine of the second.
Albatross. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to buy
Beautiful Australian
Birds - Pelicans
Australian pelican
is a beautiful bird, a large one to fly, with a wing
span of almost two metres. There is only one species and it is a marine
bird that has also moved into fresh water and covers the whole
continent except some dry areas in the inland Western Australia.
Australian pelican. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on
thumbnail to
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Frigatebirds,
Tropicbirds,
Boobies and Gannets
We
have two species of gannets and they live on the southern, cooler
waters. The three species of boobies, two species of frigatebirds, and
two species of tropicbirds all live on the northern, warmer waters.
Gannets. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to buy
Cormorants and Darters
There is one species of darters and five species or cormorants, and all
live on the coasts (not on the open water) and inland, most covering
the whole continent except some dry areas in the inland Western
Australia.
Darter. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to buy
Grebes
Grebes are also water birds, but fresh water so they do not live on the
coast, and there are three species of them in Australia.
Grebe. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to buy
Swans, Ducks and Geese
Another thing Europeans find 'the opposite' in Australia - our swans
are black. There are some very rare ones, supposed;y not more than 40,
white ones in south western WA. We have wild geese - Cape Barren geese
in southern Australia, and pygmy and magpie geese, both live in
northern Australia. And we have at least 11 species of ducks, as well
as some teals and mallards.
Black swans. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to buy
Swamphens, Rails, Coots
and Crakes
These are ground birds that like to live in ponds, including man made
ones in city parks. We have the purple swamphen, dusky moorhen,
Eurasian coot, three species of rails, five species of crakes and a few
native-hens and bush-hens.
Egrets, Herons and
Bitterns
We have six species of herons, five species of egrets and three species
of bitterns. All live on the land but near water bodies.
Heron. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to buy
Ibis and Spoonbills
We have glossy, straw-necked and Australian white ibis, and yellow
billed and royal spoonbill. All are waders and eat small animals in
shallow water.
Spoonbill. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to buy
Storks, Cranes,
Bustards and Plains Wanderers
We have an impressive stork - jabiru,
that lives in
wetlands in northern Australia. And we have the impressive brolgas
and sarus
cranes, that live on grasslands. Other grassland birds are Australian
bustards and plains wanderers.
Jabiru. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to buy
Curlews, Snipes,
Sandpipers,
Phalaropes and Godwits
Then we have the group of long legged and billed waders many of which
are migratory. They include curlews, sandpipers, whimbrels, turnstones,
redshanks, greenshanks, tattlers, knots, snipes, godwits, dowitchers,
ruffs, stints, pratincoles, pharalopes and sanderlings. Bush stone
curlews are different and live independently from the water.
Curlew. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to buy
Australian Birds - Jacanas aka Lotusbirds
Lotusbirds are waders with thin but very large feet to be able to run
on the plants floating on the water surface. They are found in semi
coastal northern and eastern Australia.
Lotusbird. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to buy
Australian Birds - Oystercatchers
We have two species of oystercatchers - pied and sooty - and they live
on the shore. Both have bright red bills and legs.
Oystercatcher. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to
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Plovers, Lapwings and
Dotterels
We have two species of lapwings - masked and banded. We have nine
species of plovers, three dotterels, two stilts, three jaegers and an
avocet.
Lapwing. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to buy
Noddies, Gulls, Terns and
Ternlets
We have three species of noddies, three species of gulls, 16 species of
terns and one species of ternlets. Many are ocean birds, noddies tend
to live on coral islands.
Noddies. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to buy
Eagles, Kites, Ospreys,
Goshawks,
Harriers and Falcons
Our birds
of prey
include six species of kites, four species of hawks,
four falcons, two harriers, one kestrel, one hobby, one osprey, one
buzzard, one baza, and three eagles: little eagle, white bellied sea
eagle, and wedge tailed eagle - the largest of them all.
Wedge tailed eagle. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on
thumbnail to
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Australian Birds - Doves
and Pigeons
Apart from the European pest - rock pigeon - we have 11 species of
beautiful doves and 10 species of beautiful pigeons living their
natural life in the nature and not being pests at all.
Spinifex dove. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to
buy
Smart Australian Birds - Parrots
We have many beautifully colourful and noisy parrots.
They can be
divided into groups like long tailed (25 species - including
cockatiels, budgerigars and all rosellas), broad tailed (five species -
king parrot, regent, superb, red winged, and princess Alexandra
parrot), fig parrots (one species - double eyed fig parrot), lorikeets
(seven species) and old tropical parrots (two species - red cheeked and
eclectus parrot).
Rosella. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to buy
Smart Australian Birds -
Lorikeets
Lorikeets include little, purple crowned, musk, varied, scaly breasted,
red collared and rainbow lorikeets - the latter very common everywhere.
Lorikeet. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to buy
Smart Australian Birds - Cockatoos Cockatoos
are
closely related to parrots, and as opposed to the true
parrots, they are only found in Australiasia (not in South America or
Africa). They are not quite as colourful, but they are just as smart
and playful as true parrots are. We have one species of galahs, three
species of corellas, and nine species of cockatoos.
Cockatoo. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to buy
Australian Birds - Cuckoos and Coucals
We have 11 species of cuckoos, and one coucal - the pheasant coucal.
Cuckoo. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to buy
Owls, Frogmouths and
Nightjars
We have one boobook, eight species of owls,
three species of
frogmouths, and four species of nightjars.
Frogmouth. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to buy
Kingfishers and
Kookaburras
Kookaburras are our largest kingfishers.
We
have two species of them,
plus eight species of larger kingfishers.
Kookaburras. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to buy
Bee Eaters, Rollers and
Pittas
We have rainbow bee eaters, dollarbirds, and three species of pittas:
rainbow, noisy and red bellied.
Australian Birds - Lyrebirds
We have two species of lyrebirds - Superb Lyrebird in New South Wales,
Victoria and Tasmania, and Albert's Lyrebird in a pocket in south
eastern Queensland, near Brisbane.
Lyrebird. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to buy
Australian Birds - Wrens
We have nine species of fairy wrens, three species of emu wrens, four
species of scrub wrens, one fern wren, three field wrens, two heath
wrens, and eight species of grass wrens.
Wren. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to buy
Pardalotes and Thornbills
We have four species of pardalotes, three species of bristlebirds, a
pilotbird, eight species of gerygones, three species of whiteface, and
12 species of thornbills.
Pardalote. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to buy
Honeyeaters, Miners,
Friarbirds and
Wattlebirds
This is a large group of birds in Australia, and it includes 54 species
of honeyeaters, four species of wattlebirds, four species of miners and
four species of friarbirds (the latter three are in fact also
honeyeaters).
Honeyeater. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to buy
Robins, Monarchs,
Flycatchers,
Drongos, Fantails and Magpie Larks
We have 17 species of robins, seven species of flycatchers, eight
species of whistlers, four species of fantails, six species of
monarchs, one magpie lark and one drongo.
Finches, Mannikins,
Martins and Swallows
We have 13 species of finches, five species of mannikins, four species
of firetails, two species of martins, four species of swallows.
Sunbirds, Bulbuls,
Silvereyes, White
Eyes,
Wagtails and Pipits
We have one species of sunbirds, four species of wagtails, two species
of white eye, one silvereye, one bulbul, and two thrushes.
Bulbul. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to buy
Figbirds and Orioles
We have one species of figbird and two orioles.
Figbird. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to buy
Bowerbirds, Riflebirds
and Woodswallows
We have eight species of bowerbirds, three riflebirds, one catbird, one
cicadabird, one manucode, three cuckoo shrikes, two trillers, and six
species of woodswallow.
Bowerbird. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to buy
Magpies and Butcherbirds
We have five species of butcherbirds and one species of magpie.
Magpie. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to buy
Currawongs,
Crows and Ravens
We have three species of currawongs, two species of crow, and three
ravens.
Currawong. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to buy
Old World Sparrows,
Warblers,
Larks, Mynas and Starlings
We have two species of songlarks, one skylark, one bushlarks, two
sparrows, two starlings and one myna (the common, or Indian myna).
Myna. Poster by AllPosters. Clik on thumbnail to buy
Note:
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find words like "traveller", "harbour" and "realise", and they are all
correct in the language used in Australia.
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