20 Vertebrate fauna: birds

Note that amongst the birds there are some groups that are widespread – these include the migratory shorebirds and the birds of prey. On the other hand, several groups of birds are restricted to the Oriental region. There are a number of families that are endemic to Australia, i.e. they occur nowhere else on earth. As with the mammals, Australia and New Guinea share many families of birds.

Birds
Fauna of Indonesia	Fauna of New Guinea	Fauna of Australia
Waterbirds herons, ducks, etc.	Waterbirds herons, ducks, etc.	Waterbirds herons, ducks, etc.
Shorebirds migratory; mostly passage migrants	Shorebirds migratory	Shorebirds migratory; visit in austral summer
Birds of prey raptors	Birds of prey raptors	Birds of prey raptors
Pheasants and junglefowl Family Phasianidae		Quail Family Phasianidae
	Birds of paradise Family Phasianidae – 38 species	Birds of paradise Family Phasianidae – 3 species restricted to rainforests of eastern Australia
Megapods mound nesters	Megapods mound nesters	Megapods mound nesters
	Cassowary	Emu
Relatively few parrots	Parrots cockatoos, lorys & lorikeets	Parrots cockatoos, galah, cockatiel, budgerigar, lorikeets ground parrots and long-tailed parrots
Woodpeckers Family Picidae
Cuckoos Family Cuculidae	Cuckoos Family Cuculidae	Cuckoos Family Cuculidae
Trogons Family Trogonidae
		Lyrebirds Family Menuridae
Pigeons and doves Family Columbidae	Pigeons and doves Family Columbidae	Pigeons and doves Family Columbidae
Kingfishers including endemics	Kingfishers including endemics	Kingfishers including kookaburras
Hornbills Family Bucerotidae	Hornbills 1 species
	Fairy-wrens Family Maluridae	Fairy-wrens, emu-wrens & grasswrens Family Maluridae
	Flycatchers	Thornbills, gerygones & scrubwrens Family Acanthizidae
Barbets Family Megalaimidae
Bulbuls Family Pycnonotidae
	Honeyeaters Family Meliphagidae	Honeyeaters including friarbirds, wattlebirds, Melithreptus and Lichenostomus spp. Family Meliphagidae
Cuckoo-shrikes Family Campephagidae	Cuckoo-shrikes Family Campephagidae	Cuckoo-shrikes Family Campephagidae

Complete the following activity to check your knowledge.