Grey Butcherbirds range from mid-eastern Queensland, through southern Australia, including Tasmania, to northern Western Australia. There is an isolated population in the Kimberley and the northernmost parts of the Northern Territory.
Description: Butcherbirds look a bit like miniature kookaburras, with a similar shaped beak and body. The butcherbird does in fact have a very fine hook on the tip of the beak. The adult has a black head, grey back and black wingtips and tail.
A medium-sized black and white bird with a black hood, dark brown eye and a long, hooked, grey and black bill. It has a broad white collar around its neck, a black throat and black legs. The back is mostly black, with large patches of white on the wings and rump.
You can easily tell these similar birds apart by their eyes. Currawongs have yellow eyes, whereas Magpies have red-brown eyes and Butcherbirds have very dark brown, almost black eyes. Pied Currawongs also don't have any white markings on their back, unlike Magpies or Butcherbirds.
For those unfamiliar with the peculiarities of Australian avifauna, tawny frogmouths are quite possibly the country's strangest-looking bird.
The new bristlebird species, Walter's Bristlebird (Dasyornis walterbolesi), is named after former Australian Museum ornithologist Dr Walter Boles.
Willie wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys)
The willie wagtail is the largest, and most well-known, of the Australian fantails. It has black plumage with a white belly. You can tell it apart from other similar-sized black and white birds by its black throat, white eyebrows and whisker marks.
There are two kinds of Kookaburras in Australia, the Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae) and the Blue Winged Kookaburra (Dacelo leachii). Recognisable both by looks and voice, the Kookaburra has an off-white stomach and dark brown back and wings.
Butcherbirds are large songbirds, being between 30 and 40 cm (12–16 in) in length. Their colour ranges from black-and-white to mostly black with added grey plumage, depending on the species. They have a large, straight bill with a distinctive hook at the end which is used to skewer prey.
The blue-winged kookaburra (Dacelo leachii) is a large species of kingfisher native to northern Australia and southern New Guinea. Measuring around 40 cm (16 in), it is slightly smaller than the more familiar laughing kookaburra. It has cream-coloured upper- and underparts barred with brownish markings.
The Australian White Ibis is characterised by having predominantly white plumage with a featherless black head, neck, and legs. Its bill is also black, long and downcurved.
The nests are somewhat flimsy for birds their size. Currawongs can be friendly to humans and may form long lasting relationships. As of September 2021, a currawong had been visiting the same property in the Barrington Tops area of New South Wales for over eighteen years.
The laughing kookaburra is one of four species of kookaburra; the other three are the blue-winged kookaburra, the spangled kookaburra, and the rufous-bellied kookaburra.
Weebills are the smallest birds in Australia, and as the name suggests, they also have very small beaks. They are mostly light brown with darker brown wing tips and pale or yellowish underparts. Weebills live in woodland habitats and feed on small insects.
The magpie-lark (Grallina cyanoleuca), also known as wee magpie, peewee, peewit, mudlark or Murray magpie, is a passerine bird native to Australia, Timor and southern New Guinea. The male and female both have black and white plumage, though with different patterns.
If you have heard a black and white bird calling 'curra-wong, curra-wong' around your place, then you have just identified the Pied Currawong. This call is how the bird gets its name. Pied Currawongs, Strepera graculina, love hanging out in the suburbs in eastern Australia.
A distinctively-plumaged, large species of pigeon, the White-headed Pigeon is Australia's only native extant representative of the widespread Columba genus. Birds have a white head and body and dark grey wings and tail and are easy to identify.
Kookaburras are the largest of the kingfishers. They have the big heads, long bills, and relatively small bodies and tails typical of the Southwest Pacific forest kingfishers to which they are related.
All the world has kingfishers, but only in Australia & New Guinea can you see kookaburras. Kookaburras are very large, tree-dwelling kingfishers in the genus Dacelo. There are only four in the world and all live in Australia and New Guinea. Australia has two species.
Sean Dooley from Birdlife Australia says black kookaburras are exceptionally rare. "It does occur from time to time ... well under 1 per cent of birds have these plumage quirks. "It's sort of the opposite of albinism ...
Cassowaries are generally jet black as adults, but the fabulous skin colors on their face and neck vary according to species and location. Female cassowaries are larger than the males and are even more brightly colored.
Identify birds with your camera or your microphone! Just point to the bird and we'll ID it for you. Over 1000 bird species from Australia and New Zealand are available, with plenty more from around the world. If you purchase a Smart Bird ID Pro annual membership, payment will be charged to your iTunes account.