Barking Owl

The Barking Owl is a medium-sized owl (42 cm, 650 g), smaller than the similar Powerful Owl and larger than the Southern Boobook. It has bright yellow eyes and no facial-disc. Upperparts are brown or greyish-brown, and the white breast is vertically streaked with brown. The large talons are yellow. Males are typically larger than … Read more

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Black Falcon

The Black Falcon, is a large (45-55 cm in length), very dark falcon with pale grey cere, eye-rings and feet. It is uniformly dark brown to sooty black, with a pale throat and an indistinct black streak below each eye. Some individuals have faint, narrow barring under the wings and tail. The dark form of the … Read more

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Black-chinned Honeyeater

The Black-chinned Honeyeater is the largest of its genus, reaching 17 cm in length. The cap is black, with a white crescent around the nape, and there is a diagnostic black ‘chin’ beneath the bill and extending down the white throat (though this can be difficult to see in the field). There is a small … Read more

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Brown Tree Creeper

The Brown Treecreeper, Australia’s largest treecreeper, is a grey-brown bird with black streaking on the lower breast and belly and black bars on the undertail. Pale buff bands across the flight feathers are obvious in flight. The face is pale, with a dark line through the eye, and a dark crown. Sexes differ slightly in … Read more

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Dusky Woodswallow

The dusky woodswallow is a medium-sized bird (16-19.5 cm, 35 g), with a longish tail. Mostly dark grey-brown, merging to blackish on the tail, with a small black-brown mask. Bluish bill with a black tip. Upper-wings are a dark blue-grey with a white leading edge. Conspicuous white corners on the tail. In flight the dark … Read more

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Flame Robin

The Flame Robin is a small Australian robin that reaches 14 cm in length. The male has a dark grey head and upperparts, a small white forehead patch, and white wing stripes and white tail-edges. The male has a bright orange-red throat, breast and upper-belly. The lower belly is white. The female is brown, darker … Read more

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Gilbert’s Whistler

The Gilbert’s Whistler is a stocky whistler (17 to 20 centimetres), possessing a short but robust bill. The male is a brownish-grey, with a black patch between the red eyes and bill (the lores), and a distinctive orange-rufous chin and throat. The female is more uniformly brownish-grey, lacking the males lore and throat pattern and … Read more

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Grey Falcon

The Grey Falcon is a medium-sized, compact, pale falcon with a heavy, thick-set, deep-chested appearance. It is smaller than the Peregrine Falcon but similar in shape and flight, although with longer wings. Upperparts are uniform light grey, shading to blackish on the primaries, forming conspicuous dark wing tips. The tail has narrow blackish bars. The … Read more

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Hooded Robin

The Hooded Robin is a large Australian robin reaching 17 cm in length. The male is strikingly marked in black and white, with a bold black hood extending down a white breast. The back is black with distinct white shoulder and wing-bar. The tail is black, with prominent white side-panels. Females and immatures are duller, … Read more

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Little Eagle

The Little Eagle is a medium-sized bird of prey that occurs in two colour forms: either pale brown with an obscure underwing pattern, or dark brown on the upper parts and pale underneath, with a rusty head and a distinctive underwing pattern of rufous leading edge, pale ‘M’ marking and black-barred wingtips. Both forms have … Read more

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Little Lorikeet

The Little Lorikeet is a small (16-19 cm; 40 g) bright green parrot, with a red face surrounding its black bill and extending to the eye. The undertail is olive-yellow with a partly concealed red base, and the underwing coverts are bright green. The mantle is imbued with light brown. The call in flight is … Read more

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Masked Owl

A medium-sized owl to 40 – 50 cm long, with dark eyes set in a prominent flat, heart-shaped facial disc that is encircled by a dark border. The feet are large and powerful, with fully feathered legs down to the toes. The owl exists in several colour forms, with wide variation in plumage. The upperparts … Read more

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Painted Honeyeater

The Painted Honeyeater is small (16 cm) and distinctive, with a black head and back and white underparts with dark streaks on the flanks. The wings and tail are black with bright yellow edgings. The distinctive bill is pink with a dark tip. The female is greyer on the upperparts and has less streaking on … Read more

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Pied Honeyeater

The male Pied Honeyeater is a distinctive small, black and white honeyeater with white wing-bar, rump and tail-panels, and a bluish-grey wattle below the eye. The female is greyish-brown, with a strong pattern of pale edging to feathers on the wing. Distribution Widespread throughout acacia, mallee and spinifex scrubs of arid and semi-arid Australia. Occasionally … Read more

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Pink Robin

The male Pink Robin has a sooty black throat and upperparts. The wings have faint, tan-buff wing-bars. The breast and belly are deep lilac-pink, and there is a small white patch on the forehead. The tail is plain, making this species the only ‘red’ robin with no white markings on the tail. It differs from … Read more

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Powerful Owl

The Powerful Owl is the largest owl in Australasia. It is a typical hawk-owl, with large yellow eyes and no facial-disc. Adults reach 60 cm in length, have a wingspan of up to 140 cm and weigh up to 1.45 kilograms. Males are larger than females. The upper parts of the Powerful Owl are dark, … Read more

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Regent Honeyeater

The Regent Honeyeater is a striking and distinctive, medium-sized, black and yellow honeyeater with a sturdy, curved bill. Adults weigh 35 – 50 grams, are 20 – 24 cm long and have a wing-span of 30 cm. Its head, neck, throat, upper breast and bill are black and the back and lower breast are pale … Read more

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Scarlet Robin

The Scarlet Robin is a small Australian robin that reaches 13 cm in length. The male has a black head and upperparts, with a conspicuous white forehead patch, white wing stripes and white tail-edges. The male has a bright scarlet-red chest and a white belly. The female is pale brown, darker above, and has a … Read more

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Southern Scrub Robin

The Southern Scrub-robin is a medium-sized (19 – 22 centimetres) ground-dwelling thrush-like bird. The head and upperparts are dull grey-brown, and the throat and underparts pale brown with a paler belly. The base of the long tail, which is sometimes held cocked or irregularly flicked, is bright rufous becoming darker along its length and ending … Read more

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Speckled Warbler

The Speckled Warbler is a small well-camouflaged very heavily streaked ground-dwelling bird related to the scrubwrens, reaching a length of 13cm. The back, wings and tail are grey-brown, with soft dark streaks. The black crown is distinctively streaked with buff. The underparts are pale and particularly heavily streaked. The face is off-white with streaking on … Read more

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Spotted Harrier

The Spotted Harrier is a medium-sized, slender bird of prey having an owl-like facial ruff that creates the appearance of a short, broad head, and long bare yellow legs. The upperparts are blue-grey with dark barring, and the wingtips are black. The face, innerwing patch, and underparts are chestnut. The long tail is boldly banded, … Read more

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Square-tailed Kite

The Square-tailed Kite is a reddish, medium-sized, long-winged raptor, about the size of a Little Eagle or harrier. Adults have a white face with thick black streaks on the crown and finer streaks elsewhere. The saddle, rump and central upper tail coverts are blackish with grey-brown barring. The underparts are predominantly grey-brown with black tips … Read more

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Superb Parrot

The Superb Parrot is a distinctive large, bright grass-green parrot with a long, narrow tail and sharply back-angled wings in flight. Males have yellow foreheads and throats and a red crescent that separates the throat from the green breast and belly. Females are slightly duller green and have a dull, light blue wash in place … Read more

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Swift Parrot

The Swift Parrot is small parrot about 25 cm long. It is bright green with red around the bill, throat and forehead. The red on its throat is edged with yellow. Its crown is blue-purple. There are bright red patches under the wings. One of most distinctive features from a distance is its long (12 … Read more

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Varied Sittella

The Varied Sittella is a small (10 cm) songbird with a sharp, slightly upturned bill, short tail, barred undertail, and yellow eyes and feet. In flight the orange wing-bar and white rump are prominent. In NSW most individuals have a grey head and are streaked with dark brown, but in the extreme north-east they have … Read more

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White-fronted Chat

The White-fronted Chat is an endemic Australian passerine bird, 12 cm in length and weighing approximately 13 g. It has a short slender bill, long spindly legs, a short square-tipped tail and rounded wings. Classified as a honeyeater it is most similar in form to its close relatives, the Orange Chat, Yellow Chat and Crimson … Read more

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