Top Pick!
The Australian Bird Guide
Australia’s avifauna is large, diverse and spectacular, reflecting the continent’s impressive range of habitats and evolutionary history. With specially commissioned paintings of over 900 species, The Australian Bird Guide is the most comprehensive field guide to Australian birds ever seen.
The guide features around 4700 colour illustrations, with particular emphasis on providing the fine detail required to identify difficult groups and distinctive plumages. Comprehensive species accounts have been written by a dedicated team of ornithologists to ensure identification details, distribution and status are current and accurate.
The Australian Bird Guide sets a new standard in field guides, providing an indispensable reference for all birders and naturalists looking to explore Australia’s magnificent and unique birdlife.
A Naturalist’s Guide to the Birds of Australia
This easy-to-use identification guide to the 280 bird species most commonly seen in Australia is perfect for resident and visitor alike. High quality photographs from one of Australia’s top nature photographers are accompanied by detailed species descriptions, which include nomenclature, size, distribution, habits and habitat. The user-friendly introduction covers climate,vegetation, biogeography and the key sites for viewing the listed species.
Species
Birds of Prey
Highly Recommended
Birds of Prey of Australia
This book is an illustrated field guide to diurnal raptors, a bird group that many people find among the most difficult birds to identify. Raptors are popular and iconic birds, and important ecologically as well as in legislation, with some species listed as threatened. Birds of Prey of Australia will enable people to more easily identify them. It also provides a brief overview of the biology of raptors and an indication of the current state of knowledge on them.
The book has been completely revised and updated, with 15 years of new data, a section on difficult species-pairs (split-images providing direct contrast), and rearranged in modern field-guide format, making it easy to use and enabling rapid identification of ‘difficult’ raptors.
Australian Birds of Prey in Flight
Birds of prey spend most of their time in flight and, when viewed from the ground, they are notoriously hard to identify. Australian Birds of Prey in Flight is a photographic guide to the eagles, hawks, kites and falcons flying high above you. Individual species profiles describe distinguishing features and the text is supported by detailed images showing the birds at six different angles and poses, using photographs from many of Australia’s leading bird photographers. Annotated multi-species comparison plates highlight key features that can help differentiate birds of prey in flight.
This book will be of value to anyone who wants to learn more about Australia’s birds of prey, and will provide a useful reference for identifying soaring birds in the field, and also while trying to identify images from your own camera.
Australasian Eagles and Eagle-like Birds
In Australasian Eagles and Eagle-like Birds, Dr Stephen Debus provides a 25-year update of knowledge on these 10 species as a supplement to the Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds (HANZAB) and recent global treatises, based partly on his own field studies. Included are the first nest or prey records for some Melanesian species. This book places the Australasian species in their regional and global context, reviews their population status and threats, provides new information on their ecology, and suggests what needs to be done in order to ensure the future of these magnificent birds
Urban Raptors: Ecology and Conservation of Birds of Prey in Cities
Urban Raptors is the first book to offer a complete overview of urban ecosystems in the context of bird-of-prey ecology and conservation. This comprehensive volume examines urban environments, explains why some species adapt to urban areas but others do not, and introduces modern research tools to help in the study of urban raptors. It also delves into climate change adaptation, human-wildlife conflict, and the unique risks birds of prey face in urban areas before concluding with real-world wildlife management case studies and suggestions for future research and conservation efforts.
Australian Predators of the Sky
Australian Predators of the Sky comprises over 200 striking paintings, lithographs and engravings of all 34 Australian species—25 diurnal birds of prey and nine owls. From odd-looking first depictions to stunning, detailed portrayals of the species, the illustrations cover more than two centuries of bird art, selected from the National Library of Australia’s collection.
Pocket Guide: Raptors of Southern Queensland
This pocket sized companion covers almost 50 species of raptors living in Southern Queensland.
Parrots
Night Parrot
For well over a century, the Night Parrot lured its seekers into Australia’s vast, arid outback. From the beginning it was a mystery bird. Fewer than 30 specimens were collected before it all but disappeared, offering only fleeting glimpses and the occasional mummified body as proof of its continued existence. Protected by spinifex and darkness, the parrot attained almost mythical status: a challenge to birdwatchers and an inspiration to poets, novelists and artists.
Night Parrot documents the competitiveness and secrecy, the triumphs and adventures of the history of the bird and its followers, culminating in the recent discovery of live birds at a few widely scattered locations. It describes what we are now unravelling about the mysteries of its biology and ecology and what is still left to learn. Complemented by guest essays, illustrations and photographs from a wide variety of sources, this book sheds light on Australia’s most elusive bird.
Vanished and Vanishing Parrots
Joseph M. Forshaw, one of the world’s leading authorities on parrots, calls attention to the threats they face: they are one of the most endangered groups of birds, with a growing number of species nearing extinction. The main threats arise from habitat loss through deforestation and agricultural development and from the taking of birds for the international live-bird trade.
Others
After a lapse of almost half a century since publication of Klaus Immelmann’s eminent work on finches, based on extensive field studies, the time has come for a new examination of Australian grassfinches. In Grassfinches in Australia, Joseph Forshaw, Mark Shephard and Anthony Pridham have summarised our present knowledge of each species, and have given readers a visual appreciation of the birds in their natural habitats and in aviculture. The resulting combination of superb artwork and scientifically accurate text ensures that this volume will become the standard reference work on Australian grassfinches. In addition to enabling aviculturists to know more about these finches in the wild as a guide to their own husbandry techniques, detailed information on current management practices for all species in captivity is provided. The book also includes colour plates depicting some of the more common mutations held in Australian and overseas collections.
Learn more at CSIRO Publishing
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Pigeons and Doves in Australia
In Pigeons and Doves in Australia, Joseph Forshaw and William Cooper have summarised our current knowledge of all species, including those occurring on Christmas, Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands, and with superb artwork have given readers a visual appreciation of the birds in their natural habitats. Historical accounts of extinct species are also included. Detailed information on management practices for all species is presented, ensuring that Pigeons and Doves in Australia will become the standard reference work on these birds for ornithologists and aviculturists.
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Grasswrens: Australian outback identities
Contains over 100 stunning photographs of all 11 species and 14 subspecies of Australian grasswren currently recognised. Provides a natural history of grasswrens in Australia followed by details of each species.
Cranes, Herons And Storks
David Holland’s has spent 16 years traversing Australia to find, study and photograph the 17 species which make up this book. His passion and enthusiasm for his subjects shine through in the text; lively, accurate, informative and beautifully written, not only about the birds but about the expeditions to find them.
The book is richly illustrated with over 200 of the author’s photographs. Though primarily a photographic book, there is a short, 12-page field guide section at the back to all 17 species.
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Gulls of the World: A Photographic Guide
Until recently, gulls were a group that inspired dread among birders, due to the bewildering variety of plumages, age-groups, and races, many of which are very difficult indeed to separate, even to species. Things changed in 2003 with the publication of Klaus Malling Olsen’s Gulls of Europe, Asia and North America (Christopher Helm), a plate-based title that made accurate identification of gulls a realistic possibility for the first time.
Photographic Guide to Gulls of the World is a companion and successor to that seminal work.
This photographic identification guide covers all of the world’s gull species, tackling some of the stiffest ID challenges in birding. Concise text places particular emphasis placed on field identification, with detailed discussion of variation, and there is coverage of habitat, status, and distribution. The text is followed by a series of high-quality photographs, carefully selected to highlight identification criteria and, crucially, to allow age and subspecific separation in the field. The species entries are complemented by an accurate colour range map.
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The Eastern Curlew
Every year around August, large flocks of Eastern Curlews leave their breeding grounds in the Arctic and embark on a perilous 10,000km journey to the coast of Australia. The birds cannot swim; if they become exhausted and fall into the ocean, they die. But it’s a journey they have taken for tens of thousands of years, tracing invisible flyways in the sky in what is one of the most spectacular mass migrations in the animal kingdom.
Following the Eastern Curlew along its migratory path, award-winning nature writer Harry Saddler explores how these incredible birds have impressed themselves on the cultures of the countries they fly through, the threat to their survival posed by development, and the remarkable ways these birds and humankind may be entwined. The Eastern Curlew is a delightful and vivid portrait of a fascinating natural phenomenon.
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Finding Birds
Finding Australian Birds
Finding Australian Birds is a guide to the special birds found across Australia’s vastly varied landscapes. From the eastern rainforests to central deserts, Australia is home to some 900 species of birds. This book covers over 400 Australian bird watching sites conveniently grouped into the best birding areas, from one end of the country to the other.
Each chapter begins with a brief description of the location, followed by a section on where to find the birds, which describes specific birdwatching sites within the location’s boundaries, and information on accommodation and facilities. The book also provides a comprehensive ‘Bird Finding Guide’, listing all of Australia’s birds with details on their abundance and where exactly to see them.
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Australia’s Birdwatching Megaspots
The book gives in depth information on Australia’s 55 Birdwatching Megaspots, the 55 sites that typically rank highest in each state or territory for species richness or are home to the more uncommon species. Summaries of a further 40 sites have also been included to provide the reader with the opportunity to visit additional sites as they travel and see Australian bird species that do not typically occur elsewhere. The book includes 120 individual bird species accounts, over 500 colour images and detailed site specific information, including birding tracks and trails, GPS coordinates, access details and directions, facilities, contact information, transport information, other nearby sites of interest and detailed accommodation options in each area. There are also ethical birding guidelines, an overview of Australia’s modern bird families, safety and emergency guidelines and a handy checklist of all bird species and subspecies recorded to date in Australia for the reader to record their sightings as they travel. All designed to provide visitors with the essential information they need to plan a successful birding trip.
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Regional Guides
New South Wales
Sydney Birds and Where to Find Them
Sydney Birds and Where to Find Them features the 30 top bird-watching localities in and around Sydney. Each locality entry lists the key species to look out for, including rare and seasonal visitors. It describes how to access the location, both by public transport and road, and what amenities to expect; maps are featured wherever necessary. The main section gives precise details about where to look for certain birds.
This invaluable guide will take you to some beautiful places, many of which you may never otherwise discover.
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Northern Territory
Birds of the Darwin Region
Birds of the Darwin Region is the first comprehensive treatment of the avifauna of Darwin, a city located in Australia’s monsoon tropics, where seasons are defined by rainfall rather than by temperature. With its mangrove-lined bays and creeks, tidal mudflats, monsoon rainforests, savanna woodlands and freshwater lagoons, Darwin has retained all of its original habitats in near-pristine condition, and is home or host to 323 bird species. Unlike other Australian cities, it has no established exotic bird species.
Following an introduction to the history of ornithology in the region and a detailed appraisal of its avifauna, species accounts describe the habitats, relative abundance, behaviour, ecology and breeding season of 258 regularly occurring species, based on over 500 fully referenced sources, and original observations by the authors. Distribution maps and charts of the seasonality of each species are presented, based on a dataset comprising almost 120,000 records, one-third of which were contributed by the authors. Stunning colour photographs adorn the accounts of most species, including some of the 65 species considered as vagrants to the region.
Western Australia
Pocket Field Guide to Birdlife of Western Australia
Michael Morcombe’s two best-selling Field Guide to Australian Birds have been received with delight by birdwatchers throughout Australia and overseas. Now Morcombe has produced a series of handy Pocket Guides covering each State of Australia, plus a separate volume for migratory and sea birds. This Western Australia guide is the second of the series to be released. A unique feature of this book is the front section, which showcases 45 of Western Australia’s most sought-after birds, illustrated with stunning photographs selected or taken by Morcombe. Information about the best places and times to spot these birds includes precise GPS coordinates.
Features:
• Detailed illustrations of all the species, subspecies, males, females and juveniles that can be found in Western Australia, with essential species information accompanying each illustration
• Information about the best places and times to spot them, including precise GPS coordinates
• QuickFind system of colour tags gives easy reference to bird families and is cross-referenced to the Quick Index and Guide to Family Groups
Birds of Western Australia: The Field Guide
This comprehensive field guide to the birds of Western Australia includes detailed descriptive text, distribution maps and photographic illustrations of 486 species, covering the vast majority of sedentary birds and regular migratory birds.
Most of the photographs have been taken by Author Simon Nevill himself, showing the birds in their natural habitats. The majority of the information imparted in this guide comes from Simons personal experience over the last forty years of bird watching in Australia, giving the guide a more personal tone.
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Queensland
Pocket Guide: Birds of Brisbane
This pocket companion is just the thing for any avid Brisbane bird-watcher. From frogmouths to falcons and crows to cockatoos, this little book contains images, calls and behaviours of every bird you’re likely to find in and around Brisbane.
Birds of the Wet Tropics of Queensland and Great Barrier Reef and Where to Find Them
The Field Guide section (206 pages) includes distribution maps and arranges birds according to their colour and most obvious feature such as “long” tail, some straited plumage, brown or appears brownish, yellow or buff rump, all-white head, black and white plumage, as well as habits such as wags or quivers tail, hovers, forages on tree trunks and limbs, spends much time in the air and so on. Also described in the Field Guide section are groups of birds such as shorebirds and some resident freshwater waders, diurnal birds of prey, nocturnal birds, terns, gulls, seabirds, quail and button-quail and the true aerial birds (swifts, swiftlets, swallows, martins).
85 pages are devoted to birds difficult-to-identify, some of which, for example, egrets, Black-shouldered and Letter-winged Kites, the four species of grey gerygone, Leaden, Satin and Broad-billed Flycatchers, Bassian and Russet-tailed Thrush are also found in other parts of Australia. Some groups of birds difficult-to-identify groups include egrets, the three “yellow-spotted” honeyeaters, gerygones, Bronze-cuckoos, scrubwrens, friarbirds, swiftlets, flycatchers.
Tasmania
Field guide to Tasmanian birds.
Species entries are accompanied by a full-colour photograph and include common and scientific names, identification information, notes on habits, voice, breeding and distribution, locator maps and tips on where to best see each bird.
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Pocket Field Guide to Birds of Tasmania
Michael Morcombe’s two best-selling Field Guide to Australian Birds have been received with delight by birdwatchers throughout Australia and overseas. Now Morcombe has produced a series of handy Pocket Guides covering each State of Australia, plus a separate volume for migratory and sea birds. This Tasmania guide is the third of the series to be released.
A unique feature of this book is the front section, which showcases over 30 of Tasmania’s most sough-after birds, illustrated with stunning photographs selected or taken by Morcombe. Information about the best places and times to spot these birds includes precise GPS coordinates. Also included is a beautifully illustrated 136 page section on the nests and eggs of Australian birds.
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Birds of Cataract Gorge and Surrounds
This invaluable reference, with superb photographs, describes 97 bird species, including 10 of Tasmania’s 12 endemics. It is a must for anyone interested in the bird life of Launceston and the region.
Emeritus Professor Nigel Forteath AM, a retired zoologist, is an Honorary Research Associate at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery. His extensive career in aquaculture led to many awards, including Member of the Order of Australia in 2006 for Services to Marine and Freshwater Biology. Nigel has always had a keen interest in birds and photography and brings his imagery and understanding of Cataract Gorge’s Bird life together in this guide.
Victoria
My Favourite
Where to See Birds in Victoria
Where to See Birds in Victoria features the very best places in Victoria for seeing birds. Despite being Australia’s smallest mainland state, its varied landscapes provide habitat for more than 500 bird species. It is without question one of Australia’s best-kept birding secrets.
Where to See Birds in Victoria provides information on how to get to each destination, what facilities and accommodation to expect and, importantly, precisely where to look for those special or rare birds. The book also provides a comprehensive and up-to-date list of birds, with the degree of rarity and where to see it noted for each species. So, for Victorians and visitors to the state, the secret is out. What better way to see some wonderful places and magnificent wildlife than by using Where to See Birds in Victoria as your guide?
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Birds of Aireys Inlet and Anglesea on the Great Ocean Road.
A delightful photographic book featuring the birds of Aireys Inlet and Anglesea on the Victorian coast. Over 120 species have been photographed in their natural environment and set amongst landscapes of Aireys Inlet and Anglesea. This new collection features most of the birds you are likely to see along the Great Ocean Road.
A Photographic Field Guide to the Birds of the Australian High Country
This book is a fully comprehensive field guide to the 322 bird species of the High Country, including all common, rare and vagrant species. With photographs from the author and the region’s other top-quality nature photographers, each species is illustrated with many variants. The guide is focussed on field use to help beginners and experts identify species.
For each species the common and scientific names are listed as well as local variations. The main identifying features of each species are described and key facts cover size, habits, habitat, breeding, distribution, voice and status in the region. Distribution maps provide an at-a-glance view of where the birds can be found. The book also includes information on climate and topography, types of habitat, orders and families, residents, migrants, vagrants and highly scarce migrants, topography and the key birdwatching sites. The checklist provides complete information on the local status of each species.
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ACT
Field Guide to the Birds of the ACT
This revised second edition illustrates in colour the 217 birds likely to be seen in and around the ACT. It has easy-to-follow descriptions in a compact format. Only local birds are shown making this Field Guide much simpler to use than comprehensive national guides.
Other:
Bird Minds
In her comprehensive and carefully crafted book, Gisela Kaplan demonstrates how intelligent and emotional Australian birds can be. She describes complex behaviours such as grieving, deception, problem solving and the use of tools. Many Australian birds cooperate and defend each other, and exceptional ones go fishing by throwing breadcrumbs in the water, extract poisonous parts from prey and use tools to crack open eggshells and mussels. The author brings together evidence of many such cognitive abilities, suggesting plausible reasons for their appearance in Australian birds.
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Australian Bird Names
Australian Bird Names is aimed at anyone with an interest in birds, words, or the history of Australian biology and bird-watching. It discusses common and scientific names of every Australian bird, to tease out the meanings, which may be useful, useless or downright misleading!
The authors examine every species: its often many-and-varied common names, its full scientific name, with derivation, translation and a guide to pronunciation. Stories behind the name are included, as well as relevant aspects of biology, conservation and history. Original descriptions, translated by the authors, have been sourced for many species.
As well as being a book about names this is a book about the history of ever-developing understandings of birds, about the people who contributed and, most of all, about the birds themselves.
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The Big Twitch
Sean takes a year off to try to break the Australian twitching record – he has to see more than 700 birds in twelve months. Travelling the length and breadth of Australia, he stops at nothing in search of this birdwatching Holy Grail, blowing his inheritance, his career prospects and any chance he has of finding a girlfriend.
Part confessional, part travelogue, this is a true story about obsession. It’s about seeking the meaning of life, trying to work out what normal’ is, and searching for the elusive Grey Falcon (the bird, not the car). Sean’s story of how he followed his childhood dream of becoming a national champion is both inspiring and ridiculous. Could this be the most pathetic great achievement in Australian history?
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An Uncertain Future: Australian Birdlife in Danger
In An Uncertain Future, Geoffrey Maslen takes us into the fascinating lives of Australian birds, showing us how intelligent they are, the significant threats they face due to disappearing habitats and climate change and how essential these angels of the air are to our own survival. Soaring through the skies, light as the air itself, birds are the closest creatures we have to angels on the planet. They bring song and beauty to our lives, and they play a significant role in sustaining Earth’s ecosystems.
But birds are also facing the threat of extinction. Drawing on numerous interviews with researchers and biologists studying birdlife in Australia and dozens of scientific reports from around the world, Maslen reveals a dire picture of what plummeting bird populations means for humanity
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Birds in Their Habitats
Birds in Their Habitats is a collection of stories and experiences, which introduce fascinating aspects of birdlife, ecology, and behaviour. Informed by a wealth of historical and contemporary research, Ian Fraser takes the reader on a journey through four continents: from places as unfamiliar as the Chonos Archipelago of southern Chile and the arid Sahel woodlands of northern Cameroon, to those as familiar as a suburban backyard. And with humour and personal insight, it is a book about the sometimes strange world of the people who spend a life absorbed in birds.
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Where Song Began
Tim Low brilliantly explains how our birds came to be so extraordinary, including the large role played by the foods they consume (birds, too, are what they eat), and by our climate, soil, fire, and Australia’s legacy as a part of Gondwana. The story of its birds, it turns out, is inseparable from the story of Australia itself, and one that continues to unfold, so much having changed in the last decade about what we know of our ancient past. Where Song Began also shines a light on New Guinea as a biological region of Australia, as much a part of the continent as Tasmania.
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