Queensland is the second-largest State in Australia but has the greatest biodiversity, with over 630 species of bird recorded (far more than closest-rivals New South Wales or West Australia with both around 550) The sum total for continental Australia (including Tasmania) is approximately 815 species. The high avian biodiversity is probably a reflection of the wide variety of habitats, from deserts to rainforests, mangroves to mulga, Queensland is a birders paradise.
This list is based on the classification by Sibley and Monroe 1996 (though there has been a recent (2008) extensive revision of Australian birds by Christidis & Boles ) which has resulted in some 'lumping' and 'splitting').
Those species labelled "Endemic" are endemic to mainland Australia, there are 22 species that are only found in Queensland, these are annotated with an asterisk.
Famous quotes containing the words list of, list and/or birds:
“Religious literature has eminent examples, and if we run over our private list of poets, critics, philanthropists and philosophers, we shall find them infected with this dropsy and elephantiasis, which we ought to have tapped.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Every morning I woke in dread, waiting for the day nurse to go on her rounds and announce from the list of names in her hand whether or not I was for shock treatment, the new and fashionable means of quieting people and of making them realize that orders are to be obeyed and floors are to be polished without anyone protesting and faces are to be made to be fixed into smiles and weeping is a crime.”
—Janet Frame (b. 1924)
“One ought not to have to care
So much as you and I
Care when the birds come round the house
To seem to say good-by;”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)