Pardalotes or peep-wrens are a family, Pardalotidae, of very small, brightly coloured birds native to Australia, with short tails, strong legs, and stubby blunt beaks. This family is composed of four species in one genus, Pardalotus, and several subspecies. The name derives from a Greek word meaning "spotted". The family once contained several other species now split into the family Acanthizidae.
Acanthiza is a genus of passeriform birds, most endemic to Australia, but with two species restricted to New Guinea. These birds are commonly known as thornbills. They are not closely related to species in the hummingbird genera Chalcostigma and Ramphomicron, which are also called thornbills.
The brown thornbill is a passerine bird usually found in eastern and south-eastern Australia, including Tasmania. It can grow up to 10 cm (3.9 in) long, and feeds on insects. It is brown, grey and white. The species has five subspecies.
The yellow-rumped thornbill is a species of passerine bird from the genus Acanthiza. The genus was once placed in the family Pardalotidae but that family was split and it is now in the family Acanthizidae. There are four subspecies of yellow-rumped thornbill. It is a small, brownish bird with a distinctive yellow rump and thin dark bill. It inhabits savannah, scrub and forests across most of Australia and eats insects. The species engages in cooperative breeding.
The eastern spinebill is a species of honeyeater found in south-eastern Australia in forest and woodland areas, as well as gardens in urban areas of Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Hobart. It is around 15 cm long, and has a distinctive black, white and chestnut plumage, a red eye, and a long downcurved bill.
The swift parrot is a species of broad-tailed parrot, found only in southeastern Australia. The species breeds in Tasmania during the summer and migrates north to southeastern mainland Australia from Griffith-Warialda in New South Wales and west to Adelaide in the winter. It is a nomadic migrant, and it settles in an area only when there is food available. The Swift Parrot was voted 2023 Bird of the Year in The Guardian Australia and BirdLife Australia's biennial poll.
The weebill is a species of bird in the family Acanthizidae. It is an insectivorous passerine that is found throughout mainland Australia. At 8 to 9 cm long, it is Australia's smallest bird. It was originally described by John Gould in 1838, and four subspecies are recognised. The weebill's plumage is nondescript, with olive-grey upperparts and paler, more yellowish underparts. It grades from more brownish plumage in the southern regions of Australia to more yellow in tropical areas.
The brown honeyeater is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It belongs to the honeyeaters, a group of birds which have highly developed brush-tipped tongues adapted for nectar feeding. Honeyeaters are found mainly in Australia, New Guinea, and parts of Indonesia, but the brown honeyeater is unique in that it also occurs on the island of Bali, making it the only honeyeater to be found west of the Wallace Line, the biogeographical boundary between the Australian-Papuan and Oriental zoogeographical regions.
The striped honeyeater is a passerine bird of the honeyeater family, Meliphagidae, found in Australia. It is a medium-sized honeyeater, about 23 cm (9.1 in) in length. Both sexes are a light greyish brown with dark brown centres to the feathers, which give the appearance of stripes. The stripes are particularly distinct on the head and back of the neck. While it is found mainly in inland eastern Australia where it inhabits the drier open forest, it is also found in coastal swamp forest from southeast Queensland to the central coast of New South Wales.
The buff-rumped thornbill is a small passerine bird species belonging to the genus Acanthiza, most of which are endemic to Australia. Measuring 8–10 cm in length, this unassuming thornbill is characterised by its plain greenish brown upperparts and very pale-yellow underparts, with a distinctive buff coloured rump. The tail has a broad, blackish band with a paler tip. Adults possess white irises, whilst juveniles have dark eyes. The buff-rumped thornbill is one of 14 species within the genus Acanthiza genus, which are recognisable by their thin, pointed bill. Species are unique in their plumage and distribution. Despite their shared name, the genus is not related to hummingbirds.
The olivaceous thornbill is a species of hummingbird in the "coquettes", tribe Lesbiini of subfamily Lesbiinae. It is found in Bolivia and Peru.
The slender-billed thornbill is a small bird native to Australia. It includes three sub-species:
The inland thornbill was originally described by English ornithologist John Gould in The Birds of Australia. Inland thornbills are within the order passerines. The inland thornbill belongs to the genus Acanthiza, which now has three more species than the eleven outlined by Gould in The Birds of Australia. The Noongar people of southwestern Western Australia call A. apicalis "Djoobi-Djoolbang". The inland thornbill is also known as the broad-tail thornbill and presently contains several subspecies that were once considered independent species. The word apicalis comes from the Latin for 'tipped'.
The Tasmanian Thornbill is a small bushland member of the Acanthizidae family, endemic to Tasmania and the Bass Strait Islands. It is a common bird in these regions and is often found occupying the colder, wetter portions of them. The brown thornbill will typically occupy the correspondingly drier portions of habitat.
The striated thornbill is a species of bird in the family Acanthizidae. It is endemic to Australia, where its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests.
The chestnut-rumped thornbill is a small passerine bird in the family Acanthizidae, endemic to Australia.
The rufous fieldwren also known as the desert wren or sandplain wren is a species of insectivorous bird in the family Acanthizidae, endemic to Australia.
The black honeyeater is a species of bird in the honeyeater family Meliphagidae. The black honeyeater exhibits sexual dimorphism, with the male being black and white while the female is a speckled grey-brown; immature birds look like the female. The species is endemic to Australia, and ranges widely across the arid areas of the continent, through open woodland and shrubland, particularly in areas where the emu bush and related species occur.
The grey honeyeater is a species of bird in the honeyeater family. It is an uncommon and little-known bird, an often overlooked endemic of remote areas in central Australia.
The western yellow robin is a species of bird in the Australasian robin family, Petroicidae, native to Australia. Described by John Gould in 1838, the western yellow robin and its Australian relatives are not closely related to either the European or American robins, but they appear to be an early offshoot of the Passerida group of songbirds. Ranging between 13.5 and 15.5 cm long, it has grey upperparts, and a grey breast and head, broken by whitish streaks near the bill and below the eye, with a conspicuous yellow belly. The sexes are similar in appearance. Two subspecies are recognized: subspecies griseogularis, which has a yellow rump, and subspecies rosinae with an olive-green rump.
