Birds of Australia - Kinds of Birds

Kinds of Birds

Australian birds can be classified into six categories:

• Old endemics: long-established non-passerines of ultimately Gondwanan origin, notably emus, cassowaries and the huge parrot group
• Corvid radiation: Passerines peculiar to Australasia, descended from the corvid family, and now occupying a vast range of roles and sizes; examples include wrens, robins, magpies, thornbills, pardalotes, the huge honeyeater family, treecreepers, lyrebirds, birds of paradise and bowerbirds
• Eurasian colonists: later colonists from Eurasia, including plovers, swallows, larks, thrushes, cisticolas, sunbirds and some raptors
• Recent introductions: birds recently introduced by humans; some, such as the European Goldfinch and Greenfinch, appear to coexist with native fauna; others, such as the Common Starling, Blackbird, House and Tree Sparrows, and the Common Myna, are more destructive
• Migratory shorebirds: a suite of waders in the Scolopacidae and Charadriidae which breed in northern Asia and Alaska and spend the non-breeding season in Australasia
• Seabirds: a large and cosmopolitan group of petrels, albatrosses, sulids, gulls, terns and cormorants, many of which either breed on islands within Australian territory or frequent its coast and territorial waters