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Laughing kookaburra
Listen for the rolling laugh, then check for a sturdy bird with a heavy bill and a dark stripe across the eye. It often waits on an exposed branch before dropping toward prey. In northern Australia, a pale eye and a larger patch of blue can point to the related Blue-winged Kookaburra instead.
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Australian magpie
One sign of a nearby Australian magpie is its liquid, bubbling song. The black-and-white blocks on the body are useful, but the back can be darker or whiter depending on where you are. A pale bill with a dark tip helps distinguish it from a Pied Currawong with a black bill.
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Galah
A galah has a pink head and chest against pale gray wings. The contrast is easy to see when a flock drops to open grass to feed. If a gray-looking flock flashes pink as it turns, you may have a better clue from the whole group than from a single distant bird.
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Sulphur-crested cockatoo
A white cockatoo with a tall yellow crest can make itself known with a harsh call before you locate it. Check the crest when it lifts. A long-billed corella can also look white from far away, but the prominent yellow crest is the detail to remember here.
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Rainbow lorikeet
Look for a dark blue head above an orange chest and bright green wings. The birds often call as they move between flowering trees, so a noisy rush overhead can be a cue to check the nearest blossoms. A Scaly-breasted Lorikeet has a green head and yellow markings on a green chest.
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Willie wagtail
Watch a little black-and-white bird wag its long tail from side to side as it hunts on open ground. The white brows are a good close clue after the tail motion has caught your eye.
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Superb fairywren
A blue breeding male makes an easy first sighting, but many of the fairywrens moving through a garden edge look brown. Look for the small body and upright tail near low cover. Adult females have a reddish area around the eye, a detail worth checking if the blue bird has already vanished.
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Noisy miner
This gray native honeyeater has yellow skin around the eye and a yellow bill. Listen for groups in open woodland or gardens. The introduced Common Myna also has yellow near its eye, but its brown body and black head distinguish it from a Noisy Miner.
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Crested pigeon
The thin head crest gives away this pigeon even when its wing colors look dull. When the bird takes off, listen for the whistling sound from its wings. A brief upward tilt of the tail on landing is another detail to watch for in open parks and gardens.
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Pied currawong
A black bird looking at you with a bright yellow eye could be a currawong. Look for white at the base and tip of its tail, and a patch that shows in the wing during flight. The black bill helps resolve a quick comparison with an Australian magpie.
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Australian pelican
Look for the enormous pink bill on this mostly white bird. If it’s soaring at a distance, check the broad wings for black flight feathers against the white. Look around bays, lakes, and other open water, where a pelican can dwarf the birds beside it.
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Australian white ibis
A long, downcurved bill and a bare dark head identify this ibis even when the white feathers look dirty. It forages in wetlands and can also be common in city parks. Watch it probe for food and the same bill shape makes sense in both places.
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Masked lapwing
The yellow facial wattles stand out against the black cap and white face. Masked lapwings use short grass as well as wetland edges, so a sports field can be as plausible a place to see one as a muddy shore. The size of the yellow wattles varies across the range.
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Black swan
A dark body and a red bill identify an adult on the water. In flight, the white outer wing feathers come into view. Look for a flash of white in the wings, then check the long neck and dark body.
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Emu
In open country, look for a shaggy, flightless bird with very long legs. An emu may hold its narrow head well above the grass before the body comes into view. The long neck and gray-brown feathers are good clues once you see more than the silhouette.
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Tawny frogmouth
A frogmouth can sit upright like a snapped branch, with gray-brown feathers and its broad bill pointing up. Look for the break in the outline where the head meets the body. It is active after dark, so a daytime sighting often begins with noticing a shape in a tree that seemed to be part of it.
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Australian brushturkey
A large, dark bird with a bare red head and a tail held in a vertical fan is an Australian Brush-turkey. Along eastern Australia it can turn up in wooded suburbs. A heap of leaves may be its incubation mound, a clue that explains why the bird keeps working the same patch of ground.
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Australian ringneck
The yellow collar behind the neck is the mark to remember on this green parrot. It takes several different regional forms. The one often called the Twenty-eight in southwestern Australia has a dark head, so check the nape for the collar even when the face is the first thing you see.
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Tasmanian nativehen
In Tasmania, this heavy-legged, flightless rail often runs across open grass near water with its tail held up. Look for brown upperparts and a pale yellow bill. A bird racing away on foot is giving you a useful clue even before you get a good look at its colors.
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