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List of birds of Tasmania facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
For birds found on Macquarie Island, which is administered by the Tasmanian Government, see Birds of Macquarie Island.
Anthochaera paradoxa
The yellow wattlebird is Australia's largest honeyeater and an endemic Tasmanian species.

A total of 383 species of bird have been recorded living in the wild on the island of Tasmania, nearby islands and islands in Bass Strait. Birds of Macquarie Island are not included in this list. Twelve species are endemic to the island of Tasmania, and most of these are common and widespread. However, the forty-spotted pardalote is rare and restricted, while the island's two breeding endemic species, the world's only migratory parrots, are both threatened. 22 species are introduced, and 30 species are globally threatened.

Several species of penguin are late summer visitors to Tasmanian shores. Tasmania's endemic birds have led to it being classified as an Endemic Bird Area (EBA), one of 218 such areas worldwide. Priority regions for habitat-based conservation of birds around the world, they are defined by containing two or more restricted-range (endemic) species.

Although Tasmania has been isolated from the Australian mainland for about 10,000 years, islands in the Bass Strait between the two landmasses have allowed many species to traverse. With around 5,400 km (3,400 mi) of coastline and 350 offshore islands, Tasmania provides a diverse haven for birds despite its relatively small size. Birds are abundant in Tasmanian wetlands and waterways, and ten of these habitats are internationally important and protected under the Ramsar Convention. Many migratory birds make use of the bays, mudflats and beaches for feeding, including the threatened hooded plover and little tern, both of which breed along the coast. The near-coastal button grass grasslands of the southwest, harbour the breeding grounds of the critically endangered orange-bellied parrot. Many of the rarer species dwell in Tasmania's eucalyptus (sclerophyll) forest or rainforest, which cover much of the island.

The common and scientific names and taxonomic arrangement follow the conventions laid out in the 2008 publication Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Supplemental updates follow The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, 2022 edition.

This list uses British English throughout. Any bird names or other wording follows that convention. Unless otherwise noted, all species listed below are considered to occur, or have occurred since European settlement in the case of extinct species, regularly in Tasmania as permanent residents, summer or winter visitors, or migrants. The following codes denote certain categories of species:


Cassowaries and emu

Order: Casuariformes   Family: Dromaiidae

The Dromaiidae were represented in Tasmanian territory by two species, both now extirpated. The King Island emu became extinct around 1802, and the original populations of emus on Tasmania had vanished by 1865. Whether or not the Tasmanian emu was a separate subspecies is unclear.

Magpie goose

Order: Anseriformes   Family: Anseranatidae

The family contains a single species, the magpie goose. It was an early and distinctive offshoot of the anseriform family tree, diverging after screamers and before all other ducks, geese and swans, sometime in the late Cretaceous. The single species is a vagrant to Tasmania.

Ducks, geese, and waterfowl

PBD hybrid
Mallard × Pacific black duck hybrid, Richmond, Tasmania

Order: Anseriformes   Family: Anatidae

The family Anatidae includes the ducks and most duck-like waterfowl, such as geese and swans. These are adapted for an aquatic existence, with webbed feet, bills that are flattened to a greater or lesser extent, and feathers that are excellent at shedding water due to special oils.

Cereopsis novaehollandiae 2
Cape Barren goose

New World quail

Order: Galliformes   Family: Odontophoridae

The New World quails are small, plump terrestrial birds only distantly related to the quails of the Old World, but named for their similar appearance and habits. One species has become naturalised in Tasmania.

Pheasants, grouse, and allies

Order: Galliformes   Family: Phasianidae

Phasianidae consists of the pheasants and their allies. These are terrestrial species, variable in size but generally plump, with broad, relatively short wings. Many species are gamebirds or have been domesticated as a food source for humans. Two species are native to Tasmania.

Grebes

Order: Podicipediformes   Family: Podicipedidae

Grebes are small to medium-large freshwater diving birds. They have lobed toes and are excellent swimmers and divers. However, they have their feet placed far back on the body, making them quite ungainly on land. Three species have been recorded in Tasmania.

Pigeons and doves

Order: Columbiformes   Family: Columbidae

Pigeons and doves are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills with a fleshy cere. Eight species have been recorded in Tasmania, two of which have been introduced and another three are vagrants.

Cuckoos

Chrysococcyx lucidus -Tasmania-8
Shining bronze cuckoo

Order: Cuculiformes   Family: Cuculidae

The family Cuculidae includes cuckoos, roadrunners and anis. These birds are of variable size with slender bodies, long tails and strong legs.

Frogmouths

Order: Caprimulgiformes   Family: Podargidae

The frogmouths are a distinctive group of small nocturnal birds related to swifts found from India across southern Asia to Australia. One species is found in Tasmania.

Owlet-nightjars

Order: Caprimulgiformes   Family: Aegothelidae

The owlet-nightjars are a distinctive group of small nocturnal birds related to swifts found from the Maluku Islands and New Guinea to Australia and New Caledonia.

Swifts

Order: Caprimulgiformes   Family: Apodidae

Swifts are small birds which spend the majority of their lives flying. These birds have very short legs and never settle voluntarily on the ground, perching instead only on vertical surfaces. Many swifts have long swept-back wings which resemble a crescent or boomerang.

Rails, gallinules, and coots

Tasmanian-Native-hen
Tasmanian nativehen

Order: Gruiformes   Family: Rallidae

Rallidae is a large family of small- to medium-sized birds that includes the rails, crakes, coots and gallinules. The most typical family members occupy dense vegetation in damp environments near lakes, swamps or rivers. In general they are shy and secretive birds, making them difficult to observe. Most species have strong legs and long toes that are well adapted to soft uneven surfaces. They tend to have short, rounded wings and to be weak fliers.

Thick-knees

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Burhinidae

The thick-knees are a group of species of largely tropical and nocturnal birds. They are characterised by their strong black or yellow-black bills, large yellow eyes and cryptic plumage. One species is a vagrant to Tasmania.

  • Bush thick-knee, Burhinus grallarius (V)

Stilts and avocets

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Recurvirostridae

Recurvirostridae is a family of large wading birds that includes the avocets and stilts. The avocets have long legs and long up-curved bills. The stilts have extremely long legs and long, thin, straight bills. All three mainland species have been recorded in Tasmania.

Oystercatchers

Haematopus fuliginosus 1
Sooty oystercatcher on Coles Bay, Tasmania

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Haematopodidae

The oystercatchers are large and noisy plover-like birds, with strong bills used for smashing or prying open molluscs. Two species have been recorded from Tasmania.

Lapwings and plovers

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Charadriidae

Vanellus miles Bruny Island
Masked lapwing on beach, Bruny Island

The family Charadriidae includes the plovers, dotterels and lapwings. They are small- to medium-sized birds with compact bodies, short, thick necks and long, usually pointed, wings. They are often found in open country worldwide, mostly in habitats near water. In Tasmania, ten species have been recorded, three of which are vagrants.

Painted-snipe

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Rostratulidae

The painted-snipes are a family of three snipe-like birds found in South America, Asia and Australia. The Australian species has been split from the Asian greater painted-snipe and is a vagrant to Tasmania.

Sandpipers and allies

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Scolopacidae

Limosa lapponica flock - Orielton Lagoon
Part of a flock of bar-tailed godwit, Orielton Lagoon

Scolopacidae is a large and diverse family of small- to medium-sized shorebirds, including the sandpipers, curlews, godwits, shanks, tattlers, woodcocks, snipes, dowitchers and phalaropes. The majority of these species eat small invertebrates picked out of the mud or soil. Different lengths of legs and bills enable multiple species to feed in the same habitat, particularly on the coast, without direct competition for food.

Calidris ruficollis
Red-necked stint at Orford, winter plumage

Buttonquail

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Turnicidae

The buttonquail are an ancient lineage of shorebirds which closely resemble true quail in appearance but are unrelated. They are found in Africa, Asia and Australia, with one species reaching Tasmania.

Skuas and jaegers

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Stercorariidae

The skuas are in general medium to large birds, typically with grey or brown plumage, often with white markings on the wings. They have longish bills with hooked tips and webbed feet with sharp claws. They look like large dark gulls, but have a fleshy cere above the upper mandible. They are strong, acrobatic fliers.

Gulls, terns, and skimmers

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Laridae

Larus pacificus Bruny Island
Pacific gull on the beach at Bruny Island

Gulls are typically medium to large birds, usually grey or white, often with black markings on the head or wings. They have stout, longish bills and webbed feet. The large species take up to four years to attain full adult plumage, but two years is typical for small gulls. In Tasmania, three species have been recorded. Terns are in general medium-to-large birds, typically with grey or white plumage, often with black markings on the head. They have longish bills and webbed feet. They are lighter-bodied and more streamlined than gulls and look elegant in flight with long tails and long narrow wings. In Tasmania, thirteen species of gulls and terns have been recorded, five of which are vagrants. The two groups have been considered separate families, but some findings that the noddies and white tern are offshoots to the combined group have led the two to be classified as a single family for the time being.

Tropicbirds

Order: Phaethontiformes   Family: Phaethontidae

Tropicbirds are slender white birds of tropical oceans, with exceptionally long central tail feathers. Their long wings have black markings, as does the head. One species is a vagrant to Tasmanian waters.

Penguins

Order: Sphenisciformes   Family: Spheniscidae

Eudyptula minor Bruny 1
A wild little penguin returning to its burrow to feed its chicks on Bruny Island

Penguins are a group of aquatic, flightless birds living almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere, especially in Antarctica. One species breeds on the Tasmanian coast.

Albatrosses

Thalassarche cauta in flight - SE Tasmania
Shy albatross breed on three Tasmanian offshore islands

Order: Procellariiformes   Family: Diomedeidae

The albatrosses are a family of large seabirds found across the Southern and North Pacific Oceans. The largest are among the largest flying birds in the world.

Southern storm-petrels

Order: Procellariiformes   Family: Oceanitidae

The southern storm-petrels are the smallest seabirds, relatives of the petrels, feeding on planktonic crustaceans and small fish picked from the surface, typically while hovering. Their flight is fluttering and sometimes bat-like.

  • Wilson's storm-petrel, Oceanites oceanicus
  • Grey-backed storm-petrel, Garrodia nereis
  • White-faced storm-petrel, Pelagodroma marina
  • White-bellied storm-petrel, Fregetta grallaria (V)
  • New Zealand storm-petrel, Fregetta maoriana (V)
  • Black-bellied storm-petrel, Fregetta tropica

Shearwaters and petrels

Order: Procellariiformes   Family: Procellariidae

The procellariids are the main group of medium-sized "true petrels", characterised by united nostrils with medium nasal septum and a long outer functional primary flight feather.

Puffinus tenuirostris 3
Short-tailed shearwater fledgling

Frigatebirds

Order: Suliformes   Family: Fregatidae

Frigatebirds are large seabirds usually found over tropical oceans. They are large, black, or black-and-white, with long wings and deeply forked tails. The males have coloured inflatable throat pouches. They do not swim or walk and cannot take off from a flat surface. Having the largest wingspan-to-body-weight ratio of any bird, they are essentially aerial, able to stay aloft for more than a week.

Boobies and gannets

Morus serrator roost - Cheverton Rock
Australasian gannet (Morus serrator), Cheverton Rock, Tasmania, Australia

Order: Suliformes   Family: Sulidae

The sulids comprise the gannets and boobies. Both groups are medium-large coastal seabirds that plunge-dive for fish.

Anhingas

Order: Suliformes   Family: Anhingidae

Darters are cormorant-like water birds with long necks and long, straight bills. They are fish eaters which often swim with only their neck above the water. One species is a vagrant to Tasmania.

Cormorants and shags

Phalacrocorax carbo and Phalacrocorax fuscescens -Tasmania-8
Great cormorant (left) and black-faced cormorant (right)

Order: Suliformes   Family: Phalacrocoracidae

Cormorants are medium-to-large aquatic birds, usually with mainly dark plumage and areas of coloured skin on the face. The bill is long, thin and sharply hooked. Their feet are four-toed and webbed, a distinguishing feature among the order Pelecaniformes.

Pelicans

Order: Pelecaniformes   Family: Pelecanidae

Pelicans are large water birds with distinctive pouches under their bills. Like other birds in the order Pelecaniformes, they have four webbed toes. One species has been recorded in Tasmania.

Herons, egrets, and bitterns

Order: Pelecaniformes   Family: Ardeidae

Egretta novaehollandiae Tasmania 1
White-faced heron

The family Ardeidae contains the herons, egrets and bitterns. Herons and egrets are medium to large wading birds with long necks and legs. Bitterns tend to be shorter-necked and more secretive. Members of Ardeidae fly with their necks retracted, unlike other long-necked birds such as storks, ibises and spoonbills.

Ibises and spoonbills

Order: Pelecaniformes   Family: Threskiornithidae

The family Threskiornithidae includes the ibises and spoonbills. They have long, broad wings. Their bodies tend to be elongated, the neck more so, with rather long legs. The bill is also long, decurved in the case of the ibises, straight and distinctively flattened in the spoonbills.

Osprey

Order: Accipitriformes   Family: Pandionidae

The family Pandionidae contains only one species, the osprey. The osprey is a medium-large raptor which is a specialist fish-eater with a worldwide distribution.

  • Osprey, Pandion haliaetus (V)

Hawks, eagles, and kites

Order: Accipitriformes   Family: Accipitridae

Accipitridae is a family of birds of prey, which includes hawks, eagles, kites, harriers and Old World vultures. These birds have large powerful hooked beaks for tearing flesh from their prey, strong legs, powerful talons and keen eyesight.

Juvenile White-bellied Sea-eagle
juvenile white-bellied sea eagle in flight, River Derwent

Barn owls

Order: Strigiformes   Family: Tytonidae

Barn owls are medium to large owls with large heads and characteristic heart-shaped faces. They have long strong legs with powerful talons.

Owls

Order: Strigiformes   Family: Strigidae

The typical owls are small to large solitary nocturnal birds of prey. They have large forward-facing eyes and ears, a hawk-like beak and a conspicuous circle of feathers around each eye called a facial disk.

  • Barking owl, Ninox connivens (V)
  • Tasmanian boobook, Ninox leucopsis (E)

Kingfishers

Order: Coraciiformes   Family: Alcedinidae

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

Bee-eaters

Order: Coraciiformes   Family: Meropidae

The bee-eaters are a group of near passerine birds in the family Meropidae. Most species are found in Africa but others occur in southern Europe, Madagascar, Australia, and New Guinea. They are characterised by richly coloured plumage, slender bodies, and usually elongated central tail feathers. All are colourful and have long downturned bills and pointed wings, which give them a swallow-like appearance when seen from afar.

Rollers

Order: Coraciiformes   Family: Coraciidae

Rollers resemble crows in size and build, but are more closely related to the kingfishers and bee-eaters. They share the colourful appearance of those groups with blues and browns predominating. The two inner front toes are connected, but the outer toe is not.

Falcons and caracaras

Order: Falconiformes   Family: Falconidae

Falconidae is a family of diurnal birds of prey, notably the falcons and caracaras. They differ from hawks, eagles and kites in that they kill with their beaks instead of their talons.

Cockatoos

Yelltowtail in pine
Yellow-tailed black cockatoo, Calyptorhynchus funereus xanthanota

Order: Psittaciformes   Family: Cacatuidae

Cockatoos are a distinctive lineage of parrots notable for their crests and lack of colour in their plumage. Generally large and noisy, they are a familiar part of the Australian (and Tasmanian) landscape.

Old World parrots

Platycercus caledonicus -Tasmania -side-8
Green rosella

Order: Psittaciformes   Family: Psittaculidae

Characteristic features of parrots include a strong curved bill, an upright stance, strong legs, and clawed zygodactyl feet. Many parrots are vividly coloured, and some are multi-coloured. In size they range from 8 cm (3.1 in) to 1 m (3.3 ft) in length. Old World parrots are found from Africa east across south and southeast Asia and Oceania to Australia and New Zealand.

Lyrebirds

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Menuridae

The lyrebirds are two species of ground-dwelling Australian birds, notable for their accomplished mimicry. One species has been introduced to Tasmania.

Australasian treecreepers

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Climacteridae

The Climacteridae are medium-small, mostly brown-coloured birds with patterning on their underparts.

Fairywrens

Malurus cyaneus cyaneus
Superb fairywren, Malurus cyaneus cyaneus

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Maluridae

The fairywrens are a family of small, insectivorous passerine birds endemic to Australia and New Guinea. Most closely related to honeyeaters and pardalotes, they are more closely related to crows than to true wrens of the Northern Hemisphere. Two species are native to Tasmania.

Honeyeaters

Lichenostomus flavicollis
Yellow-throated honeyeater at Austins Ferry, Tasmania

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Meliphagidae

Honeyeaters are a diverse and widespread group of nectar and insect-eating birds found across Australia and surrounding regions. Eleven species are found in Tasmania, of which four are endemic, including Australia's largest honeyeater, the yellow wattlebird.

Pardalotes

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Pardalotidae

The pardalotes are a small family of very small, brightly coloured birds native to Australia, with short tails, strong legs and stubby blunt beaks. They feed on insects, generally in the canopy of eucalypts and nest in burrows. Three species are found in Tasmania, of which one is endemic and endangered.

Thornbills and allies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Acanthizidae

Sericornis humilis -Tasmania-8
Tasmanian scrubwren

The Acanthizidae are a group of 35 species of small to medium mostly insectivorous passerine birds found in Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand and the southwest Pacific. They have short rounded wings, slender bills, long legs and a short tail. Most species have olive, grey or brown plumage, although some have patches of a brighter yellow. Six species are found in Tasmania, of which three are endemic.

Quail-thrushes and jewel-babblers

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Cinclosomatidae

The quail-thrushes are medium-sized songbirds found in open forest and scrub. Adapted for ground living, they have strong legs and beaks. They are now usually classified in the family Cinclosomatidae along with jewel-babblers. One species reaches Tasmania.

  • Spotted quail-thrush, Cinclosoma punctatum

Cuckooshrikes

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Campephagidae

The cuckooshrikes are a family of predominantly drab-coloured insectivorous birds from Australia and Southeast Asia that are related to neither cuckoos nor shrikes.

Whipbirds and wedgebills

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Psophodidae

The Psophodidae is a family containing whipbirds and wedgebills.

Shrike-tits

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Falcunculidae

The shrike-tits have a parrot-like bill, used for distinctive bark-stripping behaviour, which gains it access to invertebrates.

  • Eastern shrike-tit, Falcunculus frontatus (V)

Whistlers and allies

Colluricincla harmonica -Tasmania-8
Grey shrikethrush

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Pachycephalidae

The whistlers, shrikethrushes, and some of the pitohuis are a large group of stocky passerines found in Australia and surrounding regions. Primarily insectivorous, larger species may also eat small vertebrates such as frogs or nestling birds. Most have drab plumage, the golden whistler a notable exception, and several are accomplished songsters.

Old World orioles

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Oriolidae

The Old World orioles are colourful passerine birds. They are not related to the New World orioles.

Woodswallows, bellmagpies, and allies

Black currawong
Black currawong

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Artamidae

Now known to be related to the Vangidae of Madagascar, the Artamidae are a collection of crow-like birds as well as the smaller woodswallows. They include some of the most familiar and most accomplished songbirds of the Australian (and Tasmanian) landscape. Six species are found in Tasmania.

Fantails

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Rhipiduridae

Fantails are a family of small insectivorous birds of southern Asia and Australasia related to monarchs and drongos (all three are sometimes combined in the one family).

Drongos

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Dicruridae

The drongos are mostly black or dark grey in colour, sometimes with metallic tints. They have long forked tails, and some Asian species have elaborate tail decorations. They have short legs and sit very upright when perched, like a shrike. They flycatch or take prey from the ground.

Monarch flycatchers

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Monarchidae

The monarch flycatchers are a diverse family of around 140 species of passerine birds found from Africa to Australia. Closely related to the drongo family Dicruridae, they are sometimes classified as a subfamily within it. Monarchs generally live in the canopy or understory in forest habitats, although one species is ground-dwelling.

White-winged chough and apostlebird

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Corcoracidae

They are found in open habitat in eastern Australia, mostly open eucalypt woodlands and some forest that lacks a closed canopy. They are highly social, spend much of their time foraging through leaf litter with a very distinctive gait, calling to one another almost constantly.

Crows, jays, and magpies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Corvidae

The family Corvidae includes crows, ravens, jays, choughs, magpies, treepies, nutcrackers and ground jays. Corvids are above average in size among the Passeriformes, and some of the larger species show high levels of intelligence. Two black-plumaged ravens are found in Tasmania.

Australasian robins

Melanodryas vittata Bruny
Dusky robin

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Petroicidae

Australasian robins are a group of small insectivorous birds, whose exact position in the bird family tree is unclear. Named after a superficial resemblance to the European robin, the males of many species sport bright red or pink on their plumage.

Larks

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Alaudidae

Larks are small terrestrial birds with often extravagant songs and display flights. Most larks are fairly dull in appearance. They feed on insects and seeds.

  • Horsfield's bushlark, Mirafra javanica (V)
  • Eurasian skylark, Alauda arvensis (I)

Cisticolas and allies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Cisticolidae

The cisticolas and allies are family of about 110 small passerine birds found mainly in warmer southern regions of the Old World. They are often included within the Old World warbler family Sylviidae. One species reaches Tasmania.

Reed warblers and allies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Acrocephalidae

The members of this family are usually rather large for "warblers". Most are rather plain olivaceous brown above with much yellow to beige below. They are usually found in open woodland, reedbeds, or tall grass. The family occurs mostly in southern to western Eurasia and surroundings, but it also ranges far into the Pacific, with some species in Africa.

Grassbirds and allies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Locustellidae

Locustellidae, commonly known as grassbirds, songlarks and megalurid warblers, is a newly recognized family of small insectivorous songbirds related to the Old World warblers.

Swallows

Welcome Swallow on rail
Welcome swallow

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Hirundinidae

The family Hirundinidae is adapted to aerial feeding. They have a slender streamlined body, long pointed wings and a short bill with a wide gape. The feet are adapted to perching rather than walking and the front toes are partially joined at the base.

White-eyes, yuhinas, and allies

Zosterops lateralis -Tasmania-8
Silvereye

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Zosteropidae

The white-eyes are a large family of mostly Old World passerine birds. They are rather diverse in size and colouration, but are characterised by soft fluffy plumage. These are birds of tropical areas, with the greatest variety in Southeast Asia. One species reaches Tasmania.

Starlings

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Sturnidae

Starlings are small- to medium-sized Old World passerine birds with strong feet. Their flight is strong and direct and most are gregarious. Their preferred habitat is fairly open country, and they eat insects and fruit. The plumage of several species is dark with a metallic sheen.

Thrushes and allies

Zoothera lunulata Bruny
Bassian thrush

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Turdidae

The true thrushes are a group of passerine birds that occur mainly but not exclusively in the Old World.

Flowerpeckers

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Dicaeidae

The flowerpeckers are very small, stout, often brightly coloured birds, with short tails, short thick curved bills, and tubular tongues.

Waxbills and allies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Estrildidae

Estrildid finches are small finch- or sparrow-like birds of the Old World tropics and Australasia. One species reach Tasmania.

Old World sparrows

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Passeridae

Old World sparrows are small passerine birds. These sparrows tend to be small plump brownish or greyish birds with short tails and short powerful beaks. Sparrows are seed eaters, but they also consume small insects. One species has been introduced to Tasmania.

Wagtails and pipits

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Motacillidae

Motacillidae is a family of small passerine birds with medium to long tails. They include the wagtails, longclaws and pipits. They are slender, ground-feeding insectivores of open country.

  • Grey wagtail, Motacilla cinerea (V)
  • Australian pipit, Anthus australis

Finches, euphonias, and allies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Fringillidae

Finches are seed-eating passerine birds that are small to moderately large and have a strong beak, usually conical and in some species very large. All have twelve tail feathers and nine primaries. These birds have a bouncing flight with alternating bouts of flapping and gliding on closed wings, and most sing well.

See also

  • List of Australian birds
  • List of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic birds
  • Birds of Australia
  • Lists of birds by region
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List of birds of Tasmania Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.