Australia is home to an extraordinary diversity of birdlife, shaped by its long geographic isolation and wide range of habitats. From dense tropical rainforests to arid deserts and expansive coastlines, the continent supports hundreds of species found nowhere else on Earth. This isolation has led to unique evolutionary paths, resulting in striking colors, unusual behaviors, and specialized adaptations that reflect the environments they inhabit.
Many Australian birds are known for their intelligence, complex social structures, and distinctive vocalizations. Some are highly territorial, while others form large, dynamic flocks that move across landscapes in response to seasonal changes. Their feeding habits are equally varied, ranging from nectar and seeds to insects and carrion, each playing a role in maintaining ecological balance.
Birds Found in Australia
Emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae)
The Emu is Australia’s largest bird and the second-largest in the world by height, reaching up to 1.9 metres tall. Flightless but a powerful runner, it is found across mainland Australia in open grasslands, scrublands, and woodlands. Emus are common in the interior and are notably absent only from dense rainforests and the most arid desert centres. They are a national symbol, appearing on Australia’s coat of arms.
Southern Cassowary (Casuarius casuarius)
One of the world’s most striking birds, the Southern Cassowary is a large, flightless rainforest dweller with vivid blue and red neck skin and a distinctive bony casque on its head. It is found in the tropical rainforests of Far North Queensland, particularly around Mission Beach, Daintree, and Cape York Peninsula. It plays a crucial ecological role as a seed disperser for many large-fruited rainforest trees.
Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae)
Famous for its raucous, human-like laughing call — often heard at dawn and dusk — the Laughing Kookaburra is one of Australia’s most iconic birds. It is common in woodland, open forest, and suburban areas of eastern and southwestern Australia. A large kingfisher, it hunts snakes, lizards, and small mammals by dropping on prey from a perch. Families are highly territorial and call in chorus to defend their home range.
Australian Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen)
The Australian Magpie is one of the most familiar birds across the continent, widespread in open woodlands, farmlands, parks, and suburbs throughout Australia and Tasmania. Celebrated for its melodious, carolling song at sunrise, it is also notorious for swooping pedestrians and cyclists near its nesting sites during spring. Highly intelligent and social, magpies live in territorial groups and have been known to recognise individual human faces.
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua galerita)
Loud, boisterous, and impossible to miss, the Sulphur-crested Cockatoo is found across northern and eastern Australia and Tasmania. Large flocks descend on forests, woodlands, and farmlands — and increasingly on suburban gardens. Its brilliant white plumage and lemon-yellow crest make it unmistakable. It is one of the longest-lived parrots, with some individuals surviving over 70 years in captivity. It frequently causes damage to timber structures by chewing.
Rainbow Lorikeet (Trichoglossus moluccanus)
Arguably the most colourful bird in Australia, the Rainbow Lorikeet is a riot of blue, green, red, orange, and yellow. It is common along the east coast from Queensland to South Australia and is also found in Perth following deliberate introduction. It feeds on nectar and pollen, making it an important pollinator. Large, noisy flocks roost in city trees and parks, and it readily visits garden bird feeders stocked with lorikeet mix or fresh fruit.
Galah (Eolophus roseicapilla)
The Galah — with its distinctive rose-pink breast and grey back — is one of Australia’s most abundant parrots, found throughout the mainland including arid and semi-arid zones. It is highly adaptable, thriving in farmlands, open woodlands, and suburban areas. Galahs are gregarious and noisy, and large flocks are a common sight in wheat belt regions of Western Australia and inland New South Wales. In Australian slang, “galah” is used affectionately to describe a foolish person.
Wedge-tailed Eagle (Aquila audax)
Australia’s largest bird of prey, the Wedge-tailed Eagle has a wingspan of up to 2.3 metres and is distinguished by its diamond-shaped tail. Found across the entire continent, it soars on thermals over open country, forests, and mountains. Young birds are brown and gradually darken to near-black with age. Common in inland regions and along the Great Dividing Range, it feeds on rabbits, wallabies, and carrion. It is a protected species despite a historical (and misguided) period of persecution.
Superb Fairywren (Malurus cyaneus)
The tiny Superb Fairywren is one of Australia’s most beloved birds. Breeding males are a dazzling cobalt blue and black, while females and non-breeding males are brown. Found in eastern and southeastern Australia — including Tasmania — it inhabits dense undergrowth in woodlands, gardens, and heath. Groups live in cooperative family units. Despite their beauty, the species has a complex mating system, with females often choosing to mate outside the pair bond.
Tawny Frogmouth (Podargus strigoides)
The Tawny Frogmouth is a master of camouflage, resembling a broken tree branch so perfectly that it is often overlooked during the day as it roosts motionless in trees. Widespread across mainland Australia and Tasmania, it inhabits woodlands, forests, and suburban gardens. Contrary to popular belief, it is not an owl — it belongs to a different order entirely. It hunts insects, slugs, and small vertebrates at night using its wide, frog-like beak.
Australian Pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus)
With the longest bill of any bird in the world relative to body size, the Australian Pelican is hard to miss. Found throughout Australia and New Guinea near lakes, rivers, estuaries, and coastlines, it is most common around Murray-Darling river systems and coastal lagoons. It soars effortlessly on thermals and feeds cooperatively, herding fish into shallow water. Large colonies breed on inland lake islands, particularly after flooding events that bring food abundance.
Black Swan (Cygnus atratus)
Australia’s only native swan and its most distinctive waterfowl, the Black Swan is found across the continent with particular abundance in southwestern Western Australia. It inhabits large wetlands, lakes, rivers, and estuaries. With its jet-black plumage and bright red bill, it is unmistakable on the water. Its discovery by Dutch explorers in 1697 shattered the long-held European belief that all swans were white. It is the state emblem of Western Australia.
Little Penguin (Eudyptula minor)
Also known as the Fairy Penguin, the Little Penguin is the world’s smallest penguin species, standing just 33 cm tall. Found along the southern coastline from New South Wales around to Western Australia, as well as New Zealand, it nests in burrows or rock crevices near the sea. Philip Island in Victoria is famous for its nightly “penguin parade” where hundreds return from the sea at dusk. It feeds on small fish and squid caught during daytime dives.
Brolga (Antigone rubicunda)
Australia’s only native crane (and one of only two crane species on the continent), the Brolga is a tall, grey bird with a distinctive red head patch. It performs elaborate courtship dances involving leaping, wing-spreading, and calling — a remarkable display. Common in tropical and subtropical wetlands, grasslands, and floodplains of northern Australia, particularly in Queensland, the Northern Territory, and the Kimberley. It is less common in southern states. The Brolga holds great cultural significance to Aboriginal Australians.
Satin Bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus)
The Satin Bowerbird is renowned for its extraordinary behaviour: males build elaborate stick “bowers” decorated almost exclusively with blue objects — bottle caps, feathers, straws, and berries — to attract females. Found in rainforests and adjacent woodlands of eastern Australia from Queensland to Victoria, adult males are a stunning deep blue-black with violet eyes, while females and young males are greenish-brown. The female alone builds the nest and raises the young.
Superb Lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae)
Arguably the world’s greatest songbird, the Superb Lyrebird can mimic almost any sound in its environment — other birds, chainsaws, camera shutters, and car alarms. The male’s elaborate lyre-shaped tail of silver plumes is one of the most spectacular of any bird. Found in wet forests and temperate rainforests of southeastern Australia — from Queensland to Victoria and into Tasmania where it was introduced — males display on earthen mounds, fanning their tails and singing for hours.
Crimson Rosella (Platycercus elegans)
The Crimson Rosella is a strikingly beautiful parrot of the mountains and ranges, with brilliant red and deep blue plumage. It is found in tall forests and woodlands of eastern and southeastern Australia, particularly along the Great Dividing Range and in the Australian Capital Territory, where it frequents parks and gardens. Immature birds are mostly green, gradually gaining their red plumage over several years. It feeds on seeds, flowers, and insects, and has become quite confiding around picnic areas in mountain parks.
Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo (Lophochroa leadbeateri)
Also known as Leadbeater’s Cockatoo, this is arguably the most beautiful cockatoo species, with white and salmon-pink plumage and a magnificent banded red, yellow, and white crest. It inhabits dry inland woodlands and scrublands of interior Australia — particularly in the Murray-Darling Basin, South Australia, and inland Western Australia. Pairs mate for life and are rarely found far from each other. Unfortunately, populations have declined due to habitat clearing and illegal capture for the cage bird trade.
Gang-gang Cockatoo (Callocephalon fimbriatum)
The Gang-gang Cockatoo is a small, charming cockatoo found in the cool mountain forests of southeastern Australia, particularly in the Snowy Mountains, the Australian Capital Territory, and ranges of Victoria and New South Wales. Males have a striking red head and crest; females are entirely grey with scalloped plumage. It produces an extraordinary creaking, cork-being-pulled-from-a-bottle call. In winter, flocks descend to lower altitudes and coastal heaths. It is the fauna emblem of the Australian Capital Territory.
Red-tailed Black Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus banksii)
One of Australia’s most imposing parrots, the Red-tailed Black Cockatoo is jet-black with a vivid red tail band in males, while females are subtly barred and spotted. Several geographically isolated subspecies are found across northern, central, and southwestern Australia. Northern populations inhabit tropical woodlands and open forests; rarer southern populations are of significant conservation concern. It feeds primarily on hard seeds of eucalyptus and other trees, cracking them with its powerful bill.
Eclectus Parrot (Eclectus roratus)
The Eclectus Parrot is so sexually dimorphic that male and female were once classified as entirely different species. Males are brilliant green with a candy-orange upper bill; females are red and blue with a black bill. Found in rainforests and adjacent woodland of Cape York Peninsula in far north Queensland, it also inhabits New Guinea and nearby islands. It feeds on fruit, nuts, and blossoms in the forest canopy and nests in deep tree hollows, where females may spend months incubating and brooding.
Australian King Parrot (Alisterus scapularis)
The Australian King Parrot is a large, stunning parrot of eastern Australia, from Cooktown in Queensland south to the Dandenong Ranges in Victoria. Males are gloriously coloured with a scarlet red head and breast and a rich green back; females are entirely green with a red belly. It inhabits wet forests and adjacent rainforests along the Great Dividing Range and coast, and is a frequent visitor to gardens in hilly suburbs. It feeds on seeds, fruits, flowers, and nectar in the canopy.
Budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus)
In the wild, the Budgerigar is a small, green and yellow grass parrot of the dry interior, very different from the multicoloured cage birds familiar worldwide. Nomadic and erratic in movement, wild budgerigars follow rainfall and food across the arid interior of Australia. Massive flocks — sometimes numbering in the millions — are one of the great wildlife spectacles of central Australia, descending on seeding grasses after rains. They breed opportunistically wherever conditions favour rapid seed production.
Barn Owl (Tyto alba)
The Barn Owl is one of the world’s most widespread birds and is found across most of Australia in open country, woodlands, and farmlands. Its heart-shaped white face gives it an almost ghostly appearance in torch or headlight. It is an extraordinarily efficient hunter of rodents, located almost entirely by hearing using its asymmetrically placed ears. Barn Owls are highly beneficial to farmers and are actively encouraged on many properties. They nest in tree hollows, caves, old buildings, and purpose-built owl boxes.
Powerful Owl (Ninox strenua)
Australia’s largest owl, the Powerful Owl inhabits the tall wet forests and adjacent woodlands of southeastern Australia, from southern Queensland through New South Wales to Victoria. It is a specialist predator of medium-sized mammals — particularly ringtail and brushtail possums — which it roosts with prominently during the day, making detection surprisingly easy. Despite its size, it has a quiet, melancholy double-hoot call. Populations have been impacted by habitat loss, and it is now considered vulnerable in several states.
Nankeen Kestrel (Falco cenchroides)
The Nankeen Kestrel is Australia’s most familiar small falcon, recognisable by its habit of hovering against the wind with tail depressed and wings fluttering, scanning the ground below for prey. Found throughout the continent in open habitats — grasslands, farmland, roadsides, and open woodlands — it is particularly common in the inland. Its rusty-orange upperwing contrasts with a pale face and streaked underparts. It hunts insects, lizards, and small mammals and often nests in old corvid nests or cliff ledges.
Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus)
The Peregrine Falcon is the fastest animal on Earth during its hunting stoop, reaching speeds exceeding 380 km/h. In Australia, it is found across all states and territories — on sea cliffs, mountain escarpments, river gorges, and increasingly on tall city buildings, where introduced pigeons provide year-round prey. Australian birds tend to be darker than those found elsewhere. The species made a remarkable comeback globally after severe population crashes caused by organochlorine pesticides in the mid-20th century.
White-bellied Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster)
A magnificent raptor of Australia’s coastline, major rivers, and large inland lakes, the White-bellied Sea Eagle is a large, white-headed eagle with distinctive grey upperwings. Found along the entire Australian coastline and adjacent waterways — common in northern Australia, less so in the south — it feeds on fish, sea snakes, waterbirds, and carrion. Pairs form lifelong bonds and return year after year to large stick nests built in tall trees or cliff faces. Its ringing, goose-like call is evocative of wild Australia.
Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)
The Osprey is a specialist fish hunter found around coastal Australia, particularly in the north and west, along major river systems, estuaries, and reef lagoons. It is the only raptor that dives feet-first into the water to catch fish, aided by reversible outer toes and spiny foot pads. Large stick nests are built at the top of isolated trees, channel markers, or artificial platforms. It is more common in Western Australia and Queensland than in the southeast, where populations were historically suppressed by persecution.
Swamp Harrier (Circus approximans)
The Swamp Harrier is Australia’s most common harrier, a large, broad-winged raptor of wetlands, reedbeds, and adjacent farmlands across most of the continent, with particularly dense populations in southeastern Australia and Tasmania. It quarters low over vegetation, using sound as well as sight to locate prey — frogs, small birds, young waterfowl, and reptiles. Males are grey and females are streaked brown. Like all harriers, it nests on the ground in dense marsh vegetation.
Australian Hobby (Falco longipennis)
Also called the Little Falcon, the Australian Hobby is a fast, dashing raptor found across most of the Australian mainland in open woodlands, forest edges, and urban areas with tall trees. It is famous for its spectacular aerial pursuit of swallows, swifts, and other fast-flying birds at dusk, using its speed and agility to outmanoeuvre prey. It does not build its own nest but uses old nests of ravens, falcons, and other species. Its streaked buff underparts and dark slate upperwings are distinctive.
Pacific Black Duck (Anas superciliosa)
The Pacific Black Duck is one of Australia’s most familiar and widespread dabbling ducks, found on wetlands, rivers, lakes, estuaries, and even garden ponds across the entire continent. Despite its name, the body is a dark brown with a bold black-and-cream striped face. It feeds by dabbling and upending in shallow water. It readily hybridises with introduced Mallards — a significant conservation concern particularly in the southeast. It is a common and confiding bird across suburban and rural waterways.
Magpie Goose (Anseranas semipalmata)
The Magpie Goose is an ancient species of waterfowl found only in Australia and southern New Guinea, representing its own unique family. Once widespread across southern Australia, it was pushed northward by habitat draining and hunting and is now most abundant in the tropical wetlands of the Northern Territory and northern Queensland — particularly the floodplains of the Mary River and Kakadu National Park. Large flocks — sometimes in their thousands — gather in seasonally flooded grasslands to feed on sedge corms and grasses.
Australian Darter (Anhinga novaehollandiae)
The Australian Darter — also called the Snakebird for its long, sinuous neck — is a cormorant-like waterbird found on freshwater lakes, swamps, rivers, and estuaries across the mainland and Tasmania. Unlike most waterbirds, its feathers are not fully waterproof, so it must spread its wings to dry after diving. It spears fish underwater with its dagger-like bill by coiling and releasing its neck in a rapid strike. It nests colonially with cormorants, ibises, and herons in trees over water.
Australian White Ibis (Threskiornis molucca)
Often cheekily called the “bin chicken” in Australian urban culture, the Australian White Ibis has adapted extraordinarily well to city life, being commonly seen rummaging through rubbish bins in Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne parks. Originally a bird of inland wetlands and floodplains, it moved to coastal cities as inland water regimes were disrupted. With its bald black head and curved bill, it is unmistakable. It feeds on invertebrates, frogs, and almost any available food source.
Royal Spoonbill (Platalea regia)
The Royal Spoonbill is a large, graceful white wading bird with a distinctive flattened, spatula-shaped bill that it sweeps side to side through shallow water to catch fish, crustaceans, and aquatic insects. Found across eastern and northern Australia and in New Zealand, it inhabits wetlands, tidal flats, and river edges. During breeding season, adults develop long white plumes on the breast and a red patch on the forehead. It nests colonially in trees or shrubs over water, often alongside other waterbirds.
Great Egret (Ardea alba)
One of the world’s most widely distributed herons, the Great Egret is a tall, elegant, all-white bird found throughout mainland Australia on wetlands, tidal flats, river margins, and flooded pastures. It hunts by standing motionless or stalking slowly through shallow water before striking with its long, yellow bill. During the breeding season, spectacular long white plumes (aigrettes) develop on the back, which were historically hunted almost to extinction for the millinery trade. It is now common and well protected.
Masked Lapwing (Vanellus miles)
Also known as the Spur-winged Plover, the Masked Lapwing is familiar to most Australians as the loud, aggressive bird that attacks anyone who walks near its ground nest. Found across the entire mainland and Tasmania on open grassy areas, sports fields, parks, and wetland edges, it is one of Australia’s most successful urban birds. Its yellow facial wattles and fierce dive-bombing behaviour during the nesting season make it unforgettable. The call — a harsh, rattling “kekekekek” — is particularly loud at night.
Bush Stone-curlew (Burhinus grallarius)
The Bush Stone-curlew is a long-legged, cryptically patterned bird of open woodland, forest edges, and grassy plains. Widespread but declining across the mainland due to fox and cat predation, it remains common in northern and inland areas. It is strictly nocturnal, spending days roosting motionless among leaf litter where its streaked plumage provides near-perfect camouflage. By night, it emits eerie, wailing cries that have inspired many Aboriginal stories. It feeds on insects, lizards, and frogs on the ground.
Pied Oystercatcher (Haematopus longirostris)
The Pied Oystercatcher is a striking black-and-white shorebird with a long, bright orange-red bill, found along sandy and rocky shorelines, tidal mudflats, and estuaries of the entire Australian coastline. Pairs mate for life and are fiercely territorial, nesting on open beaches where eggs are well camouflaged in sand and shell fragments. It uses its powerful bill to pry open bivalves, probe for worms, and hammer through the shells of molluscs. It is common around the southern coasts and is a familiar sight on popular beaches.
Sooty Oystercatcher (Haematopus fuliginosus)
The entirely jet-black Sooty Oystercatcher is the less conspicuous counterpart of the Pied Oystercatcher, inhabiting rocky intertidal coastline rather than sandy beaches. It feeds on molluscs, chitons, and other rocky-shore invertebrates prised from rock surfaces with its stout red bill. Found around the entire Australian coastline and some offshore islands, it is less abundant than the Pied Oystercatcher and tends to be more solitary or found in small pairs. Breeding pairs are highly sedentary and occupy the same stretch of coast for years.
Silver Gull (Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae)
The Silver Gull is Australia’s most familiar gull, found on every coastline and inland lake across the continent. With its white body, grey wings, and bright red bill and feet, it is unmistakable. Highly opportunistic, it congregates around fishing boats, harbours, beach picnic areas, fast food outlets, and rubbish dumps. It is found in virtually every coastal town and city in Australia. Inland populations breed around large lakes and reservoirs. Despite its ubiquity, it has declined somewhat in recent decades due to changes in waste management.
Australasian Gannet (Morus serrator)
The Australasian Gannet is a spectacular seabird found in seas around southern Australia, with breeding colonies on coastal islands off Victoria, South Australia, and New Zealand. It plunges from heights of up to 30 metres into the sea at high speed to catch fish, using air sacs beneath the skin to cushion the impact. Large, dense breeding colonies — such as at Point Danger in Victoria — are dramatic wildlife spectacles. Adults are white with golden-yellow head feathering and distinctive black wing tips.
Wandering Albatross (Diomedea exulans)
The Wandering Albatross has the largest wingspan of any living bird — up to 3.5 metres — and circumnavigates the Southern Ocean on barely a wingbeat, gliding on dynamic winds for months at a time. Found in Australian waters south of 30°S, particularly in Bass Strait and the Southern Ocean south of Tasmania, it breeds on sub-Antarctic islands including Macquarie Island. It is long-lived and slow to reproduce, making populations highly vulnerable to longline fishing mortality, which is the species’ greatest current threat.
Little Pied Cormorant (Microcarbo melanoleucos)
The Little Pied Cormorant is Australia’s smallest and most widespread cormorant, found on almost any fresh, brackish, or marine water body across the continent. Its contrasting black-and-white plumage and yellow facial skin make it easy to identify. Unlike larger cormorants, it feeds mostly on small fish and aquatic invertebrates in shallow water. It dries its wings in the characteristic cormorant pose after diving, perching spread-winged in the sun. Nesting occurs colonially in trees or shrubs over water, often with other waterbirds.
White-faced Heron (Egretta novaehollandiae)
The White-faced Heron is the most common and widespread heron in Australia, found on virtually any wetland, coastline, wet paddock, flooded field, or even dry grassland across the mainland and Tasmania. Its pale blue-grey body and white face make it distinctive. It is a highly adaptable and opportunistic feeder, taking fish, frogs, insects, and worms from both aquatic and dry environments. Unlike most herons, it often feeds away from water in grassy paddocks. It frequently nests in tall trees away from wetlands, even in suburban gardens.
Nankeen Night Heron (Nycticorax caledonicus)
The Nankeen Night Heron is a stocky, cinnamon-and-white heron with blood-red eyes, widespread across mainland Australia and Tasmania wherever wetlands and waterways exist. As its name suggests, it is largely nocturnal, roosting communally during the day in dense waterside vegetation and emerging at dusk to hunt fish, frogs, and invertebrates. In the breeding season, adults grow long white head plumes. Colonies often roost in suburban parks or botanic gardens, where they have become remarkably tame — Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney and Melbourne are well-known roost sites.
Straw-necked Ibis (Threskiornis spinicollis)
The Straw-necked Ibis is a large ibis distinguished by dry, straw-like feathers on its upper breast and a black, iridescent back contrasting with a white belly. Found throughout Australia, it strongly prefers inland pastures, grasslands, and flooded plains over coastal habitats — unlike the Australian White Ibis. It is highly nomadic, following rainfall and the explosive appearance of food. Enormous flocks gather in inland Queensland and New South Wales after good rains. It is a voracious consumer of insects — including locusts — and has long been considered a friend to farmers.
Yellow-billed Spoonbill (Platalea flavipes)
Endemic to Australia, the Yellow-billed Spoonbill differs from the Royal Spoonbill in having a pale yellow bill and yellow-tinged legs. It is found on freshwater wetlands, shallow swamps, and flooded grasslands across much of inland and eastern Australia, more common in the south than the north. It feeds by sweeping its bill through water to catch aquatic invertebrates and small fish. It is less colonial than the Royal Spoonbill and is found in smaller flocks or pairs, often alongside other waterbirds on productive inland wetlands.
Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus)
The Glossy Ibis is a medium-sized, dark wading bird that shimmers with bronze, green, and purple iridescence in good light. Found in freshwater and brackish wetlands across northern and eastern Australia, it is highly nomadic and unpredictable in occurrence. It probes shallow water and soft mud with its long, decurved bill for insects, crustaceans, and worms. Numbers in Australia have increased in recent decades, and it now occasionally breeds when water conditions are suitable in inland New South Wales and Queensland. It is also found on every other inhabited continent.
Australian Brush-turkey (Alectura lathami)
The Australian Brush-turkey is a large, turkey-like mound-building bird of rainforests and wet eucalypt forests along the east coast, from Cape York to northern New South Wales — and now commonly in southeastern Queensland gardens and parks. Males build enormous mounds of leaf litter and debris that serve as incubators for eggs, maintaining the internal temperature with remarkable precision by adding or removing material. The male has a red head, yellow wattle, and black body. Chicks hatch fully feathered and fully independent.
Malleefowl (Leipoa ocellata)
Like the Brush-turkey, the Malleefowl is a mound-building megapode, but inhabits the dry mallee scrublands and dry woodland of southern Australia — a completely different habitat. It constructs a large sandy mound insulated with leaf litter and organic material, and the male spends virtually every day of the year monitoring and regulating the mound’s temperature. Once widespread, Malleefowl have been severely impacted by fox predation, habitat clearance, and altered fire regimes. They are now patchily distributed in mallee country of South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia, and New South Wales.
Common Bronzewing (Phaps chalcoptera)
The Common Bronzewing is one of Australia’s most widespread pigeons, found in virtually every habitat type across the mainland and Tasmania from coastal heath to dry inland scrub. Its plumage is subtly beautiful — predominantly brown and grey with a shimmering iridescent bronze-green patch on the wing, which flashes brilliantly in sunlight. It feeds on seeds on the ground and is often seen at water in the early morning and evening. A deep, resonant “whoom whoom” call carries far through the bush.
Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes)
The Crested Pigeon is an elegant, long-tailed pigeon with a distinctive thin, upright black crest and iridescent green and pink wing patches. Found across most of mainland Australia in open country, grasslands, farmland, and increasingly in suburban parks and gardens, it has expanded its range dramatically as vegetation clearing opened new habitats. When flushed, it takes off with a distinctive whistling sound produced by modified wing feathers — a sound that signals alarm to nearby birds. It is often seen on outback roads walking along the verges.
Peaceful Dove (Geopelia placida)
The Peaceful Dove is a small, dainty pigeon of open woodland, shrublands, and grassy areas across northern and eastern Australia. Its soft, lilting “doodle-doo” call is one of the quintessential sounds of the Australian bush, often heard long before the bird is seen. Finely barred blue-grey and white, it is a ground-feeding bird that moves in small flocks through dry environments near water. It is common in tropical and subtropical Australia and is a regular visitor to suburban gardens in Queensland and the Northern Territory.
Spotted Dove (Spilopelia chinensis)
The Spotted Dove is an introduced species from southern Asia that is now thoroughly established in urban and suburban Australia, particularly in coastal cities and towns of the east coast, South Australia, and southwestern Western Australia. It is distinguished by a distinctive black necklace of white spots on the back of its neck. It feeds on seeds and crumbs on the ground and is a frequent visitor to garden bird feeders. While not native, it is now deeply embedded in the soundscape of Australian cities with its soft cooing call.
Willie Wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys)
The Willie Wagtail is one of Australia’s most familiar and beloved small birds, found throughout the mainland and occasionally Tasmania in open habitats — parks, gardens, farmland, roadsides, and wetland edges. Its bold black-and-white plumage, constant tail wagging, and fearless, inquisitive personality make it one of the most charismatic birds on the continent. It aggressively sees off much larger birds — including eagles — near its nest. Its chattering “sweet pretty creature” call is one of the most commonly heard Australian bird sounds.
Grey Fantail (Rhipidura albiscapa)
The Grey Fantail is a small, energetic flycatcher found in forests, woodlands, scrublands, and gardens across Australia and Tasmania. It is noted for its constant, frenetic aerial acrobatics as it chases insects, fanning its distinctive long tail as it twists and turns. It is often boldly confiding, fluttering close to people walking through the bush. Its call — a rapid, upward-lilting “tseek tseek tseek” — is a hallmark of Australian bush walks. Breeding pairs build a beautifully neat, cup-shaped nest with a long hanging “tail” of material below.
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike (Coracina novaehollandiae)
Despite its name, the Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike is related to neither cuckoos nor shrikes — it belongs to its own family. A medium-sized grey bird with a distinctive black face, throat, and lores, it is found throughout mainland Australia and Tasmania in virtually all woodland and forest habitats. It has an endearing habit of shuffling its wings on landing — giving rise to its popular nickname “shufflewing.” It feeds on insects and small fruits and is often seen in open country and suburban areas, perching prominently on wires or dead branches.
Noisy Miner (Manorina melanocephala)
The Noisy Miner — not to be confused with the introduced Common Myna — is a native, grey honeyeater of eastern Australia, found in open eucalypt woodland, parkland, and suburban areas from Queensland to South Australia. It lives in highly cooperative social groups that aggressively mob and evict virtually every other small bird from their territory — a behaviour that has made it a significant driver of biodiversity decline in fragmented woodland. Despite its ecological impact, it is highly vocal and intelligent. Its spread has been facilitated by the clearing of dense understorey vegetation across eastern Australia.