Swallow

Taken at Alcoa Lakes

Kookaburra

Scientific name: Dacelo novaeguineae
Family: Halcyonidae
Order: Coraciiformes
What does it look like?
Description

The Laughing Kookaburra is instantly recognisable in both plumage and voice. It is generally off-white below, faintly barred with dark brown, and brown on the back and wings. The tail is more rufous, broadly barred with black. There is a conspicuous dark brown eye-stripe through the face. It is one of the larger members of the kingfisher family.

Red-Collered Lorikeet

Frequently taken for Rainbow Lorikeets, Red-collared Lorikeets are actually a distinct species who are incredibly brightly colored and lovely in their own right.

Black Kite

Scientific name: Milvus migrans
Family: Accipitridae
Order: Falconiformes
What does it look like?
Description

The Black Kite is a medium-sized raptor (bird of prey). From a distance, it appears almost black, with a light brown bar on the shoulder. The plumage is actually dark brown, with scattered light brown and rufous markings, particularly on the head, neck and underparts. The tail is forked and barred with darker brown. This feature gives the bird its alternative name of Fork-tailed Kite. The eye is dark brown and the bill is black with a yellow cere (area of skin around the nostrils). Both sexes are similar. Young Black Kites are generally lighter in colour than the adults, and have a comparatively shallower forked tail.

Mistletoebird

Scientific name: Dicaeum hirundinaceum
Family: Dicaeidae
Order: Passeriformes
What does it look like?
Description

The small Mistletoebird is the only Australian representative of the flowerpecker family, Dicaeidae, and is also known as the Australian Flowerpecker. Males have a glossy blue-black head, wings and upperparts, a bright red throat and chest, a white belly with a central dark streak and a bright red undertail. Females are grey above, white below, with a grey streak on the belly, and a paler red undertail. Young birds resemble females but are paler and have an orange, rather than dark, bill. These birds are swift and erratic fliers, moving singly or in pairs, usually high in or above the canopy.

Grey-crowned Babbler

Scientific name: Pomatostomus temporalis
Family: Pomatostomidae
Order: Passeriformes
Featured Bird Groups
Small insect-eating birds
What does it look like?
Description

The Grey-crowned Babbler is the largest of Australia's four babbler species. It is dark brown-grey above, with a distinctive grey crown stripe and a dark face mask that contrasts with a white eyebrow. The chin and throat are white, running into a pale grey lower breast. It has a long, curved bill, short rounded wings with cinnamon brown wing patches and a long tail tipped white. The eye is pale yellow in adults. There is a darker-coloured subspecies, rubeculus, in north-western Australia (often called the Red-breasted Babbler), that has a rufous lower breast and darker crown stripe. The Grey-crowned Babbler is a noisy and gregarious bird, usually found in small groups of four to twelve, and is often seen on the ground or in low trees. It is sometimes called the Yahoo, after one of its calls.

Little Friarbird

Scientific name: Philemon citreogularis
Family: Meliphagidae
Order: Passeriformes
Featured Bird Groups
Honeyeaters
What does it look like?
Description

The Little Friarbird is the smallest of the friarbirds, with a medium, curved bill with no casque (a bump, characteristic of other friarbirds) and a squared off tail when spread. It is brown-grey above, paler grey on neck and collar, with a distinctive bare blue-grey face patch, and pale greyish white below with fine white streaking on the breast. Females are slightly smaller, but otherwise similar. Young birds are browner above, with more yellowish colourings on chin and throat. It is a conspicuous and noisy bird, often chasing other honeyeaters, and is mostly seen higher up in trees.