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Finches are small to moderately large seed-eating passerine birds with a strong beak, usually conical and in some species very large. All have 12 tail feathers and nine primary flight feathers . Finches have a bouncing flight, alternating bouts of flapping with gliding on closed wings, and most sing well.
Finding Australian Birds, authored by Tim Dolby and Rohan Clarke (2014), features the best places in Australia for finding birds. The Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds , the pre-eminent scientific reference, in seven volumes. The New Atlas of Australian Birds, an extensive detailed survey of Australian bird distributions.
This list is based on the Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds list, May 2002 update, with the doubtfuls omitted. It includes the birds of Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica, and the surrounding ocean and subantarctic islands. Australian call-ups are based on the List of Australian birds.
In February 2011, Cyclone Yasi destroyed a large area of cassowary habitat, endangering 200 of the birds – about 10% of the total Australian population. [60] The Mission Beach community in far north Queensland holds an annual Cassowary Festival in September, where funds are raised to map the bird's habitat. [61]
The species is the largest Australian bird of prey and one of the largest eagles in the world. The female wedge-tailed eagle is one of the world's largest eagles. [25] Its nearest rival in Australia for size is some 15 per cent smaller linearly and 25 per cent lighter in weight. [8] As is typical in birds of prey, the female is larger than the ...
In Australia, 16-year-old Phillip McClean and his brother, age 13, came across a southern cassowary on their property and decided to try and kill it by striking it with clubs. The bird kicked the younger boy, who fell and ran away as his older brother struck the bird. The older McClean then tripped and fell to the ground.
The bush stone-curlew or bush thick-knee (Burhinus grallarius, obsolete name Burhinus magnirostris) is a large, ground-dwelling bird endemic to Australia.Its favoured habitat is open plains and woodlands, where it stalks slowly at night in search of invertebrates such as insects.
The great white pelican (P. onocrotalus) of Europe and Africa is almost as large. The Australian pelican (P. conspicillatus) is slightly smaller but has the largest bill of any bird, at as much as 49 cm (19 in) long. [49] A large pelican can attain a wingspan of 3.6 m (12 ft), second only to the great albatrosses among all living birds. [119]