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List of birds of Queensland facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
QLD in Australia map
Queensland, Australia

Queensland is Australia's second-largest state, but it's home to the most different kinds of birds! You can find 684 types of birds here, which is way more than other states like New South Wales or West Australia.

Why so many birds? Queensland has all sorts of natural places, from dry deserts to lush rainforests, and from swampy mangrove forests to open woodlands. This huge variety of homes makes Queensland a true paradise for birds and for people who love watching them!

This list of birds uses a common way to group them. You'll see some special tags next to certain birds:

  • (A) Accidental: This means the bird doesn't usually live in Queensland and only shows up rarely or by accident.
  • (E) Endemic: This bird lives only in Queensland and nowhere else in the world!
  • (I) Introduced: These birds were brought to Queensland by people, either on purpose or by accident. They aren't naturally from here.

Contents

Big Flightless Birds

Ostriches

Order: Struthioniformes   Family: Struthionidae

Ostriches aren't originally from Australia. However, some have escaped and now live in the wild in Queensland.

Cassowaries and Emus

Order: Casuariiformes   Family: Casuariidae

This family includes large, flightless birds. Australia has two living types. Other kinds are found in New Guinea. Long ago, some emus lived on King Island and Kangaroo Island. Scientists used to think they were different species, but now we know they were the same as the emus on the mainland.

Magpie Goose

Order: Anseriformes   Family: Anseranatidae

This family has only one bird, the magpie goose. It's a very old type of water bird, different from other ducks and geese. You can find it all over Australia.

Ducks, Geese, and Swans

Black swan 1
Black swan

Order: Anseriformes   Family: Anatidae

This group includes ducks, geese, and swans. They are all made for living in water! They have webbed feet, flat bills, and special oily feathers that shed water easily.

Ground-Dwelling Birds

Megapodes

Order: Galliformes   Family: Megapodiidae

These birds are famous for being "mound-builders." They build huge piles of dirt and plants to keep their eggs warm!

Guineafowl

Order: Galliformes   Family: Numididae

Guineafowl are not native to Australia. However, some have escaped and now live in the wild in Queensland.

Pheasants and Quails

Blue-breasted Quail Samcem oct04
Blue-breasted quail

Order: Galliformes   Family: Phasianidae

This family includes pheasants and their relatives. They are usually plump birds that live on the ground. Many of them are hunted for food or raised on farms.

Water Birds

Grebes

Order: Podicipediformes   Family: Podicipedidae

Grebes are small to medium-sized birds that dive in freshwater. They have special lobed toes that help them swim and dive really well. But because their feet are so far back on their bodies, they look a bit clumsy on land!

Pigeons and Doves

Rose-crowned Fruit-dove Dayboro
Male rose-crowned fruit-dove

Order: Columbiformes   Family: Columbidae

Pigeons and doves are birds with strong bodies, short necks, and thin bills.

Bustards

Order: Otidiformes   Family: Otididae

Bustards are large birds that live on the ground, mostly in dry, open areas. They eat both plants and small animals. They have strong legs and big toes, and they walk steadily, looking for food.

Cuckoos

Channel-billed Cuckoo Sep07 kobble
Channel-billed cuckoo

Order: Cuculiformes   Family: Cuculidae

This family includes cuckoos. These birds have thin bodies, long tails, and strong legs. Many cuckoos in the Old World are "brood parasites," meaning they lay their eggs in other birds' nests for them to raise!

Night Birds

Frogmouths

Order: Caprimulgiformes   Family: Podargidae

Frogmouths are a special group of small birds that are active at night. They are found from India to Australia.

Nightjars

Order: Caprimulgiformes   Family: Caprimulgidae

Nightjars are medium-sized birds that are active at night and usually nest on the ground. They have long wings, short legs, and very short bills. Their soft feathers help them blend in with tree bark or leaves.

Owlet-Nightjars

Order: Caprimulgiformes   Family: Aegothelidae

Owlet-nightjars are small birds that are active at night. They are found in places like New Guinea and Australia.

Swifts

Order: Caprimulgiformes   Family: Apodidae

Swifts are small birds that spend most of their lives flying! They have very short legs and almost never land on the ground. Instead, they perch on vertical surfaces. Many swifts have long, swept-back wings that look like a boomerang.

Rails, Gallinules, and Coots

Order: Gruiformes   Family: Rallidae

This is a big family of small to medium-sized birds like rails, crakes, coots, and gallinules. They usually live in thick plants near lakes, swamps, or rivers. They are often shy and hard to spot. Most have strong legs and long toes, which help them walk on soft ground.

Cranes

Order: Gruiformes   Family: Gruidae

Cranes are large birds with long legs and long necks. When they fly, their necks are stretched out, which is different from herons. Many cranes have amazing and loud dances to find a mate.

Thick-knees

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Burhinidae

Thick-knees are a group of wading birds found in warm parts of the world. They are medium to large birds with strong bills, big yellow eyes, and feathers that help them hide. Even though they are "waders," most prefer dry or semi-dry places.

  • Bush thick-knee, Burhinus grallarius
  • Beach thick-knee, Esacus magnirostris

Stilts and Avocets

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Recurvirostridae

This family includes avocets and stilts. Avocets have long legs and bills that curve upwards. Stilts have extremely long legs and long, thin, straight bills.

Oystercatchers

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Haematopodidae

Oystercatchers are large, noisy birds that look a bit like plovers. They have strong bills that they use to smash open or pry apart molluscs (like clams and oysters).

Plovers and Lapwings

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Charadriidae

This family includes plovers and lapwings. They are small to medium-sized birds with compact bodies and short, thick necks. They live in open areas all over the world, often near water.

Plains-wanderer

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Pedionomidae

The plains-wanderer is a ground bird that looks a bit like a quail. They are masters of camouflage and will hide if they feel threatened. If you get too close, they prefer to run rather than fly, as they are not very good at flying.

Painted-Snipes

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Rostratulidae

Painted-snipes have short legs and long bills. They look similar to true snipes but are much more colorful.

Jacanas

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Jacanidae

Jacanas are wading birds found in tropical areas. You can easily spot them by their huge feet and claws. These big feet help them walk on floating plants in the shallow lakes they love.

Sandpipers and Allies

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Scolopacidae

This is a large and varied family of small to medium-sized shorebirds, including sandpipers, curlews, and godwits. Most of these birds eat small insects and other tiny creatures they find in mud or soil. Different lengths of legs and bills allow many species to feed in the same places without competing for food.

Buttonquail

Black-breasted Button-quail male inskip
Male black-breasted buttonquail

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Turnicidae

Buttonquails are small, plain-looking birds that run on the ground, similar to true quails. What's interesting is that the female is usually brighter in color and starts the courtship. The male then takes care of incubating the eggs and raising the young.

Pratincoles and Coursers

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Glareolidae

This family includes pratincoles, which have short legs, long pointed wings, and long forked tails. It also includes coursers, which have long legs, short wings, and long, downward-curving bills.

Skuas and Jaegers

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Stercorariidae

Skuas and jaegers are medium to large birds, usually grey or brown. They nest on the ground in cold regions and fly long distances to warmer places.

Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers

Bridled Tern LEI Nov06
Bridled tern

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Laridae

This family includes gulls, terns, and skimmers. Gulls are usually grey or white with black markings. They have strong bills and webbed feet. Terns are generally medium to large seabirds, often grey or white with black on their heads. Most terns catch fish by diving, but some pick insects off the water. Skimmers are a small family of tropical birds that look like terns. They have a longer lower bill, which they use to skim the water surface for small fish while flying low.

Tropicbirds

Order: Phaethontiformes   Family: Phaethontidae

Tropicbirds are thin white birds that live over tropical oceans. They have super long feathers in the middle of their tails. Their long wings and heads have black markings.

Penguins

Order: Sphenisciformes   Family: Spheniscidae

Penguins are a group of birds that live in water and cannot fly. They live mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, especially near Antarctica. Only one type, the little penguin, breeds on the coast of Australia.

Albatrosses

Order: Procellariiformes   Family: Diomedeidae

Albatrosses are a family of large seabirds found in the Southern and North Pacific Oceans. The biggest ones are among the largest flying birds in the world!

Storm-Petrels

Order: Procellariiformes   Family: Oceanitidae

Southern storm-petrels are the smallest seabirds. They are related to petrels and eat tiny sea creatures and small fish from the water's surface, often while hovering. Their flight looks like a butterfly or even a bat.

Order: Procellariiformes   Family: Hydrobatidae

These storm-petrels look and act a lot like the southern storm-petrels. However, they have enough genetic differences that scientists put them in their own family.

Shearwaters and Petrels

Order: Procellariiformes   Family: Procellariidae

This is the main group of medium-sized "true petrels." They have nostrils that are joined together and a long outer flight feather.

Storks

Order: Ciconiiformes   Family: Ciconiidae

Storks are large, long-legged, and long-necked wading birds with strong, long bills. Storks don't make sounds with their voices, but they clatter their bills together to communicate at their nests. Their nests can be huge and used for many years!

Frigatebirds

Order: Suliformes   Family: Fregatidae

Frigatebirds are large seabirds usually found over tropical oceans. They are mostly black, with long wings and deeply forked tails. The males have colorful throat pouches that they can inflate. They don't swim or walk well and can't take off from flat ground. They have the largest wingspan compared to their body weight of any bird, meaning they can stay in the air for over a week!

Boobies and Gannets

Brown Booby LEI jan08
Brown booby

Order: Suliformes   Family: Sulidae

This family includes gannets and boobies. Both are medium-large seabirds that live near coasts and dive headfirst into the water to catch fish.

Anhingas

Order: Suliformes   Family: Anhingidae

Anhingas, also called darters, are water birds that look like cormorants. They have long necks and long, straight bills. They eat fish and often swim with only their neck above the water.

Cormorants and Shags

Order: Suliformes   Family: Phalacrocoracidae

Cormorants are medium to large water birds, usually with dark feathers and colorful skin on their faces. They have long, thin, hooked bills. Their feet have four webbed toes, which is a special feature in their bird group.

Pelicans

Order: Pelecaniformes   Family: Pelecanidae

Pelicans are large water birds with a unique pouch under their bills. Like other birds in their group, they have four webbed toes.

Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns

Order: Pelecaniformes   Family: Ardeidae

This family includes bitterns, herons, and egrets. Herons and egrets are medium to large wading birds with long necks and legs. Bitterns tend to have shorter necks and are more cautious. Birds in this family fly with their necks pulled back, unlike storks or ibises.

Ibises and Spoonbills

Order: Pelecaniformes   Family: Threskiornithidae

This family includes ibises and spoonbills. They are large birds that live on land and in water. They have long, wide wings and are strong flyers, even though they are big.

Birds of Prey

Osprey

Order: Accipitriformes   Family: Pandionidae

This family has only one bird, the osprey. The osprey is a medium-large raptor that specializes in eating fish. You can find them all over the world.

Hawks, Eagles, and Kites

Grey Goshawk Dayboro Apr02
Gray goshawk

Order: Accipitriformes   Family: Accipitridae

This family includes hawks, eagles, kites, and harriers. These birds of prey have strong, hooked beaks to tear meat from their prey. They also have powerful legs, sharp talons, and excellent eyesight.

Barn-Owls

Order: Strigiformes   Family: Tytonidae

Barn-owls are medium to large owls with big heads and a special heart-shaped face. They have long, strong legs with powerful talons.

  • Sooty owl, Tyto tenebricosa
  • Australian masked-owl, Tyto novaehollandiae
  • Australasian grass-owl, Tyto longimembris
  • Barn owl, Tyto alba

Owls

Order: Strigiformes   Family: Strigidae

The typical owls are birds of prey that hunt alone at night. They have large eyes that face forward, good hearing, a beak like a hawk, and a circle of feathers around each eye called a facial disk.

Colorful Birds

Kingfishers

Red-backed Kingfisher Bowra apr07
Red-backed kingfisher

Order: Coraciiformes   Family: Alcedinidae

Kingfishers are medium-sized birds with large heads, long pointed bills, short legs, and short tails.

Bee-eaters

Order: Coraciiformes   Family: Meropidae

Bee-eaters are a group of birds known for their rich, bright colors. They have slender bodies and usually long central tail feathers. All of them have long, curved bills and pointed wings, which make them look a bit like swallows when flying.

Rollers

Order: Coraciiformes   Family: Coraciidae

Rollers are about the size of crows but are more closely related to kingfishers and bee-eaters. They are also very colorful, mostly with blues and browns.

Falcons and Caracaras

Order: Falconiformes   Family: Falconidae

This family includes falcons. They are different from hawks and eagles because they kill their prey with their beaks instead of their talons.

Cockatoos

Palm Cockatoo RWD
Palm cockatoo

Order: Psittaciformes   Family: Cacatuidae

Cockatoos share many features with other parrots, like their curved beak and feet with two toes pointing forward and two backward. But they are special because of their often amazing movable crests of feathers on their heads.

Old World Parrots

Scaly-breasted Lorikeet Kobble Dec06
Scaly-breasted lorikeet

Order: Psittaciformes   Family: Psittaculidae

Parrots have a strong, curved bill, stand upright, and have strong legs with clawed feet. Many parrots are very colorful, and some have many different colors. They range in size from about 8 centimeters (3 inches) to 1 meter (3 feet) long. Old World parrots are found in Africa, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.

Pittas

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Pittidae

Pittas are medium-sized songbirds with strong legs, short tails, and stout bills. Many are brightly colored. They spend most of their time on wet forest floors, eating snails, insects, and other small creatures.

  • Papuan pitta, Erythropitta macklotii
  • Noisy pitta, Pitta versicolor

Lyrebirds

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Menuridae

Lyrebirds are famous for their amazing ability to copy sounds from their environment, like other birds, animals, and even human-made noises. The male's huge tail is also incredibly beautiful when he fans it out to attract a mate.

Scrub-birds

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Atrichornithidae

The scrub-bird family is very old and is thought to be closely related to lyrebirds.

Bowerbirds

Regent Bowerbird male Lamington 0807
Regent bowerbird

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Ptilonorhynchidae

Bowerbirds are small to medium-sized songbirds. The males are known for building special structures called "bowers" to attract a female. These bowers can be simple circles of cleared earth with twigs or complex, decorated structures of sticks and leaves.

Australasian Treecreepers

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Climacteridae

These treecreepers are medium-small birds, mostly brown with patterns on their undersides.

Fairywrens

Variegated Fairywrens Dayboro 1207
Variegated fairy-wrens

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Maluridae

Fairywrens are small, insect-eating songbirds found only in Australia and New Guinea. They form pairs, but both the male and female might mate with other birds and even help raise the chicks from those other pairings!

Honeyeaters

Crimson Chat Newhaven Sep04
Male crimson chat

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Meliphagidae

Honeyeaters are a large and diverse family of small to medium-sized birds, most common in Australia and New Guinea. They feed on nectar from flowers and look a lot like other birds that eat nectar.

Bristlebirds

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Dasyornithidae

Bristlebirds have long tails and spend most of their time on the ground. They get their name from the stiff, hair-like feathers around their mouths.

Pardalotes

Spotted Pardalote Samsonvale Aug02
Spotted pardalote

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Pardalotidae

Pardalotes spend most of their time high up in the outer leaves of trees. They eat insects, spiders, and especially "lerps," which are tiny sap-sucking insects.

Thornbills and Allies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Acanthizidae

Thornbills are small songbirds that act a lot like tits (another type of small bird).

Pseudo-Babblers

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Pomatostomidae

Pseudo-babblers are small to medium-sized birds found only in Australia and New Guinea. They eat a variety of foods from the ground and are very social birds.

Logrunners

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Orthonychidae

This family includes logrunners and chowchillas. Both types of birds use their stiff tails to balance themselves when they are looking for food.

Quail-Thrushes and Jewel-Babblers

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Cinclosomatidae

This family includes jewel-babblers and quail-thrushes.

Cuckooshrikes

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Campephagidae

Cuckooshrikes are small to medium-sized songbirds. They are mostly greyish with white and black, though some are brightly colored.

Sittellas

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Neosittidae

Sittellas are a family of small songbirds found only in Australia and nearby islands. They look like treecreepers but have soft tails.

  • Papuan sittella, Neositta papuensis
  • Varied sittella, Neositta chrysoptera

Whipbirds and Wedgebills

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Psophodidae

This family includes whipbirds and wedgebills.

Australo-Papuan Bellbirds

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Oreoicidae

The three types of birds in this family have been moved between different bird families for many years. Recent studies of their DNA showed that they should be in their own new family, which was officially named in 2016.

Shrike-tits

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Falcunculidae

Shrike-tits have a bill that looks like a parrot's. They use it to strip bark from trees to find insects.

  • Eastern shrike-tit, Falcunculus frontatus

Whistlers and Allies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Pachycephalidae

This family includes whistlers and shrikethrushes.

  • Sandstone shrikethrush, Colluricincla woodwardi
  • Bower's shrikethrush, Colluricincla boweri (E)
  • Grey shrikethrush, Colluricincla harmonica
  • Rufous shrikethrush, Colluricincla rufogaster
  • Olive whistler, Pachycephala olivacea
  • Golden whistler, Pachycephala pectoralis
  • Black-tailed whistler, Pachycephala melanura
  • Gray whistler, Pachycephala simplex
  • Rufous whistler, Pachycephala rufiventris
  • White-breasted whistler, Pachycephala lanioides

Old World Orioles

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Oriolidae

Old World orioles are colorful songbirds. They are not related to the New World orioles found in the Americas.

Boatbills

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Machaerirhynchidae

Boatbills are related to woodswallows and butcherbirds. They are found in New Guinea and northern Queensland.

Woodswallows, Bellmagpies, and Allies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Artamidae

Woodswallows are soft-feathered, dark-colored songbirds. They are smooth, agile flyers with fairly large, triangular wings. The cracticids, which include currawongs, bellmagpies, and butcherbirds, are similar to other crow-like birds. They have large, straight bills and are mostly black, white, or grey. All of them eat a variety of foods.

Fantails

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Rhipiduridae

Fantails are small birds that eat insects. They are experts at catching insects in the air.

  • Northern fantail, Rhipidura rufiventris
  • Willie-wagtail, Rhipidura leucophrys
  • Rufous fantail, Rhipidura rufifrons
  • Arafura fantail, Rhipidura dryas
  • Grey fantail, Rhipidura albiscapa
  • Mangrove fantail, Rhipidura phasiana

Drongos

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Dicruridae

Drongos are mostly black or dark grey, sometimes with shiny colors. They have long, forked tails. They have short legs and sit very upright when perched. They catch insects in flight or pick them up from the ground.

Birds-of-Paradise

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Paradisaeidae

Birds-of-paradise are famous for the amazing feathers of the males. These feathers are often very long and fancy, growing from their tails, wings, or heads. They use these beautiful feathers in special dances to attract females.

Monarch Flycatchers

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Monarchidae

Monarch flycatchers are small to medium-sized songbirds that eat insects, catching them in flight.

White-winged Chough and Apostlebird

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Corcoracidae

These birds live in open areas of eastern Australia, like woodlands. They are very social and spend a lot of time looking for food in leaf litter, often calling to each other.

Crows, Jays, and Magpies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Corvidae

This family includes crows, ravens, jays, and magpies. Corvids are larger than average songbirds, and some of the bigger ones are very smart.

Australasian Robins

Rose Robin flinders peak jun05
Male rose robin

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Petroicidae

Most birds in this family have a strong body, a large round head, a short straight bill, and rounded wingtips. They live in many different wooded places, from cold mountains to tropical rainforests. They mainly eat insects, but some also eat seeds.

Larks

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Alaudidae

Larks are small ground birds known for their often fancy songs and display flights. Most larks have plain feathers. They eat insects and seeds.

  • Horsfield's bushlark, Mirafra javanica

Cisticolas and Allies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Cisticolidae

Cisticolas are warblers found mostly in warmer southern parts of the Old World. They are usually very small birds with plain brown or grey feathers, living in open areas like grasslands.

Reed Warblers and Allies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Acrocephalidae

Birds in this family are usually quite large for "warblers." Most are plain olive-brown on top and yellow to beige underneath. They are often found in open woodlands, reedbeds, or tall grass.

Grassbirds and Allies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Locustellidae

This family includes small insect-eating songbirds found mainly in Eurasia, Africa, and Australia. They are small birds with tails that are usually long and pointed, and they tend to be plain brownish or buffy all over.

Swallows

Fairy Martin Samcem may06
Fairy martin

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Hirundinidae

This family of birds is made for catching food in the air. They have thin, streamlined bodies, long pointed wings, and a short bill with a wide mouth. Their feet are good for perching, not walking.

Bulbuls

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Pycnonotidae

Bulbuls are medium-sized songbirds. Some are colorful with yellow, red, or orange patches, but most are plain, with uniform olive-brown to black feathers. Some types have distinct crests on their heads.

White-eyes and Allies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Zosteropidae

White-eyes are small birds that look quite plain. Their feathers are usually greenish-olive on top, but some have a white or bright yellow throat or chest. As their name suggests, many have a white ring around each eye.

  • Lemon-bellied white-eye, Zosterops chloris
  • Ashy-bellied white-eye, Zosterops citrinella
  • Australian yellow white-eye, Zosterops luteus
  • Silver-eye, Zosterops lateralis

Starlings

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Sturnidae

Starlings are small to medium-sized songbirds. They fly strongly and directly and often gather in large groups. They prefer open areas and eat insects and fruit. Their feathers are usually dark with a shiny, metallic look.

Thrushes and Allies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Turdidae

Thrushes are a group of songbirds found mainly in the Old World. They are plump, soft-feathered, small to medium-sized birds that eat insects or sometimes a mix of foods, often feeding on the ground. Many have beautiful songs.

Old World Flycatchers

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Muscicapidae

Old World flycatchers are a large group of small birds that live in trees and eat insects. These birds look very different from each other, but most have weak songs and harsh calls.

Flowerpeckers

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Dicaeidae

Flowerpeckers are very small, stout, and often brightly colored birds. They have short tails, short, thick, curved bills, and special tube-shaped tongues.

  • Red-capped flowerpecker, Dicaeum geelvinkianum
  • Mistletoebird, Dicaeum hirundinaceum

Sunbirds and Spiderhunters

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Nectariniidae

Sunbirds and spiderhunters are very small songbirds that mostly eat nectar from flowers. They will also eat insects, especially when feeding their young. They fly fast and straight on short wings. Most can hover like a hummingbird to get nectar, but they usually perch to feed.

Waxbills and Allies

Plum-headed Finch male Jandowae oct07
Plum-headed finch

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Estrildidae

The estrildid finches are small songbirds from the Old World tropics and Australia. They like to be in groups and often live in colonies. They eat seeds and have short, thick, but pointed bills. They all have similar body shapes and habits, but their feather colors and patterns vary a lot.

Old World Sparrows

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Passeridae

Old World sparrows are small songbirds, usually plump, brown or grey, with short tails and strong, short beaks. They eat seeds, but also small insects.

Wagtails and Pipits

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Motacillidae

This family includes wagtails and pipits. These are slender birds that eat insects from the ground in open areas. They have medium to long tails.

Finches and Allies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Fringillidae

Finches are small to medium-sized songbirds that eat seeds. They have strong beaks, usually cone-shaped. All finches have 12 tail feathers and nine primary flight feathers. Finches fly with a bouncing motion, flapping their wings then gliding, and most sing well.

See also

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List of birds of Queensland Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.