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Description:
Small grey brown bird.
Feeding habit of hovering and picking caterpillars and insects from leaves.
White tips of tail displayed in feeding manoeuvre.
Female builds enclosed pendulous nest and incubates eggs.
Male defends territory repeatedly singing squeaky but musical trill more often heard than seen.
Parasitised by and it is not unusual in summer to see two harassed warbler foster-parents
feeding a cuckoo chick three times their size.
Habitat:
Readily attracted by "squeaking".
Widespread, found in established gardens, hedges, plantations or bush.
Look for it moving quickly in the canopy of trees.
Along the riverbanks, may be seen in willows. Size:
Description:
A small, friendly brown-black bird with pale orange breast and large black and white tail
which it fans frequently in flight.
Uses tail as a rudder in its almost constant pursuit of insects.
Habitat: "Saw-like" song frequently heard.
Attracted by "squeaking". Rub a piece of polystyrene on a licked bottle in the bush
and a will usually be the first bird to respond.
Size:
Description:
Small bird with grey green head and upper parts, pale buff belly and distinctive white eye ring.
Quite mobile when non-breeding and give "chi-chi-chi" calls as they fly or feed.
Cause a lot of damage to fruit especially grapes.
Habitat:
Often in small flocks.
Readily attracted by "squeaking".
Will visit bird tables for fruit, fat or sugar water.
Size:
Description:
Our only common widespread yellow bird.
Both sexes show yellow face and head, and upper parts brown,
but male is much the brighter.
Male song traditionally described as "little bit of bread and no cheese",
often repeated monotonously.
Ground feeder, in winter frequently seen in flocks where hay has been fed out on paddocks.
Nest on or close to ground in a tangle of vegetation.
The pale pinkish eggs are covered with purple-red scribbles.
Habitat:
Seen usually in hedgerows, scrubland and open country.
Description:
A brightly coloured finch which was introduced from Europe.
Small, with crimson face, light brown back, light underparts with bright yellow bars on black wings.
A seed and insect eater fond of thistle and often feeds on marigold and other flower seedheads in gardens.
Commonly nest in fruit trees.
Has an attractive almost canary-like song.
Habitat:
Commonly seen in farmland, parks and gardens, frequently in large winter flocks.
Description:
A sturdy olive-green finch with powerful beak (for seed crushing) and prominent yellow
flashes on side of wings and tail.
Male has a harsh repeated, rather drawn out "dzee" call.
Habitat:
Will seek out and feed on ripe sunflowers in gardens, and in winter large
flocks may be seen feeding in paddocks and open country on weed and other seeds.
Description:
Our smallest finch, a brown streaked bird with crimson forehead and black chin.
Male colour much brighter than female and also developes a rosy breast when breeding.
During breeding, look for their distinctive undulating nuptual flights
with frequent "bizzzt" calls.
May be seen feeding on ground on grass seeds in company with .
Found in farmland, orchards, parks and gardens.
May be seen in flocks, when weed infested paddocks are seeding.
Habitat:
Description:
Sparrow-sized finch with conspicuous white on black wings.
Male is attractive with grey-blue crown and back of neck, pinkish orange cheeks and underparts and brown back.
Female is mainly soft brown but also has white bars on dark wings.
Nest is a neat open cup often in notch between trunk and a branch and is beautifully camouflaged with lichen.
Habitat:
Commonly seen in parks and gardens.
May be seen in flocks in winter in open country.
Description:
An apparently black bird whose plumage glistens with iridescent greens and purples in sunlight.
Readily distinguished from by its swaggering walk as opposed to
's hopping gait.
Commonly seen on lawns or pastures especially after rain when grass grubs more accessible.
Huge flocks wheel in unison like vast moving black clouds especially over their winter roosts,
which can comprise over 20,000 birds.
Noisy chattering birds which can become good mimics.
Description:
Prominent black and white crow-like bird.
Aggressive and may physically attack humans and
if either venture close to their nests.
Unprotected since 1991 and commonly trapped or shot as a pest.
Kill and eat small birds and take their eggs.
Native species increase in numbers when magpies are eliminated.
Best feature of this bird is its flute-like morning carolling.
Habitat:
Motor in the country and you could easily believe these large black and white birds
were our commonest bird.
They are very obvious in family groups foraging on pasture.
Size:
Description:
Large black birds which gather in noisy roosts called "parishes"
and breed high in large colonies, often old pines.
Is a wary bird, hard to approach and gives typical "caw" calls if disturbed.
Disliked by farmers as they damage crops.
Attempts to eradicate colonies usually just disperses birds
and they establish new satellite colonies elsewhere.
Habitat:
Feeds in loose flocks on pasture and cultivated paddocks.
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Grey Warbler
(Gerygone igata)
Pied Fantail
(Rhipidura fuliginosa)
Silvereye
(Zosterops lateralis)
Yellowhammer
(Emberiza citrinella)
Goldfinch
(Carduelis carduelis)
Greenfinch
(Cardeulis chloris)
Redpoll
(Carduelis flammea)
Chaffinch
(Fringilla coelebs)
Starling
(Sturnus vulgaris)
Australian Magpie
(Gymnorhina hypoleuca)
Rook
(Corvus frugilegus)