Resources
Part of the fun of the Aussie Bird Count is getting to know the birds that live in your area. You can probably identify a lot of them already, but there’s always one or two elusive species to learn more about!
We’ve compiled a whole heap of resources to help you get to know your local birds and more about birding. Click through below to get started. If you can’t find the right resource for you below, try checking with your local library or council.
How To Count
Weekend Birder Podcast
Have you taken an interest in birding and want to learn more? The Weekend Birder podcast is a great resource for beginners to discover how to identify birds, fun facts, where to go birdwatching and how to use equipment.
What Bird is That? Videos
Bird ID Field Guide Books
A field guide is a bird counter’s best friend! The Aussie Bird Count app has a great ‘Find a Bird’ feature, but sometimes only a book will do. A good field guide will help you identify any birds you might be unsure of, and there are loads of great field guide options to choose from. The ones listed here are among of the best known and most popular Aussie bird guides, but there are many worth checking out. All of the titles below will likely be available in your local bookstore, public library, or online.
| Title | Usual price |
| The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia – Pizzey and Knight The classic guide, known affectionately as The Pizzey. Excellent text. | $35-45 |
| The Slater Field Guide to Australian Birds – Peter Slater The guide for out in the field – less text but beautiful illustrations and fits in a jacket pocket. | $27-35 |
| The Australian Bird Guide – Menkhorst et al The most recent bird guide and a firm favourite among many – but quite heavy! | $37-40 |
| Field Guide to Australian Birds – Michael Morcombe This guide has a very useful section on nest and egg identification. | $50 |
Bird Sound Identification
The holy grail of birding, there have been many brave attempts at creating an app that identifies bird sounds – a “Shazam” for birds, if you will.
But it is a much bigger ask than it sounds – bird calls aren’t like pop songs, which are identical on each play-through, and often tagged and archived to a convenient internet database upon release. Not only is every bird call and song a unique live performance, but a single species may have many different calls, and some species may sound identical to another species. Some birds are talented mimics. Creating a repository of all these sounds, and an algorithm to compare and correctly match them, is a huge undertaking that requires a lot of resources. Bird song is so varied that machine learning struggles to interpret and match all the possibilities.
So far, there is not a definite winner among the existing app pool, and most of the big ones don’t focus on Aussie birds. At this point, none has proven accurate enough for BirdLife Australia to wholeheartedly endorse it. Of course, you are welcome to search around and give one or two of them a try – but don’t be shocked if it’s not spot-on every time.
Another option: if you think you might know what kind of bird if might be but want a comparison to be sure, most field guide apps include bird call recordings. If you don’t want to use an app, there are also websites with bird calls you can try.
WEBSITES
Birds in Backyards – Top 40 Bird Songs
Graeme Chapman’s Bird listings with recordings of bird calls
Xeno-canto – Sharing bird sounds from around the world
NSW Resources
| Location | Description |
|---|---|
| . | . |
| State-wide | The team at Birds in Backyards have put together a handy poster showing some of the backyard birds of NSW, which you can find here |
| . | |
| Sydney | Australian Geographic article: Urban bird watchers’ guide to Sydney |
| . | |
| Blue Mountains | Blue Mountains Bird Observers Website |
| . | |
| Cumberland | Cumberland Bird Observer’s Club website |
| . | |
| Far South Coast | The good folks at Far South Coast Birdwatchers have put together a publications page, which includes a free bird list of the birds in the Bega Valley, birding sites, as well as a book available for purchase. |
| . | |
| Hunter Region | The Hunter Bird Observers Club website has many great resources available, including their newly-released publication, “Birding Guide to the Cessnock Woodlands“ |
| . | |
| Illawarra | Illawara Birders website |
| Illawarra Bird Observers Club website – scroll down on the home page of the website to find a free download of an A4 brochure with maps, bird lists, location and numerous photos of the Birds that can be found in the Illawarra, Shoalhaven & Southern Tablelands. There is also the option to purchase the physical book “The Handbook of Birds found in the Illawarra, Shoalhaven & Southern Tablelands” | |
| . | |
| Murrumbidgee | Our friends over at Murrumbidgee Field Naturalists have put together “Birds of the MIA” – A full-colour brochure with detailed information about 20 of their favourite birding spots in the Narrandera, Leeton and Griffith LGAs. Includes notable bird species that can be found at each site, and a map of the region with each location clearly marked. |
| . | |
| Shoalhaven | The BirdLife Shoalhaven branch has created a pictoral list of common backyard birds of the Shoalhaven |
| . | |
| Southern Highlands | The BirdLife Shoalhaven branch has created the following 2 resources to locals identify birds: Southern Highlands Birds list Southern Highlands Birding Guide |
VIC Resources
| Location | Description |
|---|---|
| . | |
| State-Wide | The team at Birds in Backyards have put together a handy poster showing some of the backyard birds of Victoria, which you can find here |
| . | |
| Melbourne | If you’re within 50kms of Melbourne, chances are our BirdLife Melbourne branch have you covered. Choose a site nearest to you to see the list of birds you might see in your area. |
| Melbirds ebook by Michael Livingstone and Cindy Hauser. Made for kids, this free ebook features 63 of the most easy-to-find bird species around Melbourne and is perfect for introducing kids to the birds of their area. | |
| Australian Geographic article: Urban bird watchers’ guide to Melbourne | |
| . | |
| Ballarat | Birds of Ballarat list, courtesy of the BirdLife Ballarat branch. |
| . | |
| Bellarine | Birds of Bellarine list, courtesy of the BirdLife Bellarine branch. |
| . | |
| Bendigo Echuca District | Printable guides to birds and birding sites found around the district |
| . | |
| East Gippsland | Our BirdLife East Gippsland branch has put together a number of bird lists for the region – just scroll all the way down the page until you see the heading “Downloads”. |
| . | |
| Mildura | BirdLife Mildura have put together lists and brochures of birds for counters to print at home – just scroll down to the “Downloads” heading and choose the files that suit your needs. |
| . | |
| Mornington Penninsula | A list of “Birds of the Mornington Peninsula, brought to you by our BirdLife Peninsula branch. |
| . | |
| Wimmera / Horsham | A “where to find” guide to birds in the Wimmera, produced by our BirdLife Horsham branch. |
| . | . |
| Yarra Catchment | The BirdLife Branch of the Yarra Catchment have put together a book to purchase – “Birds of the Yarra Catchment and where to find them” by Peter Mason, $20 + $5 p&h. |
QLD Resources
| Location | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| . | ||
| Brisbane | The team at Birds in Backyards have put together a handy poster showing some of the backyard birds of Brisbane, which you can find here | |
| . | ||
| South-East Queensland | These resources come from the team at the BirdLife Southern Queensland branch: | |
| Bird Places of the Gold Coast Please note: This resource is intended to be printed and folded, so parts of the brochure will appear rotated on your screen. | ||
| Bird Places of Ipswich | ||
| Bird Places of the Redlands Please note: This resource is intended to be printed and folded, so parts of the brochure will appear rotated on your screen. | ||
| The branch have also put together a book that is available to purchase for $20 ea, with discounts available for bulk orders. The book is a photographic checklist of every species recorded in South East Qld from January 2008 until mid 2019, including images of females for certain species which can be difficult to identify. There’s even a handy tick box under each photograph to help you keep a tally of your sightings. | ||
| . | ||
| Fraser Coast | Scroll down to the heading “Birds of the Fraser Coast” to find a list of more than 300 species seen across the Fraser Coast since 1997, as compiled by The Birdwatchers of Hervey Bay. | |
| . | ||
| Northern Qld | BirdLife Northern Queensland have put together these great brochures for Northern Queensland districts & birding sites: —Cairns Region —Daintree Rainforest —Cassowary Coast —Atherton Tablelands —Cape York Peninsula —Gulf Plains —Outback Queensland —Mount Isa Region | |
| . | ||
| Sunshine Coast | The team at Birds in Backyards have put together a handy poster showing some of the backyard birds of the Sunshine Coast, which you can find here | |
| . | ||
| Toowoomba region | The team at Birds in Backyards have put together a handy poster showing some of the backyard birds of Toowoomba region, which you can find here | |
| . | . | |
| Townsville | The handy brochures below were put together by the BirdLife Townsville branch: —WOODLAND BIRDS of the Burdekin Dry Tropics —COASTAL BIRDS of the Burdekin Dry Tropics —RAINFOREST BIRDS of the Southern Wet Tropics —WETLAND BIRDS of the Townsville Region | |
WA Resources
| Location | Description |
|---|---|
| . | |
| State-Wide | Our BirdLife WA branch has absolutely masses of Bird Guides from all over the state. Have a scroll through their Bird Guide list to find your nearest location. |
SA Resources
| Location | Description |
|---|---|
| . | |
| State-Wide | Birds South Australia has bird lists for numerous locations around SA. Scroll through the list or search by location to see if your area is listed. |
| . | |
| Adelaide | The team at Birds in Backyards have put together a handy poster showing some of the backyard birds of Tea Tree Gully (Adelaide), which you can find here |
| . | |
| Birds South Australia offers an overview of common and uncommon birds seen within 10km of the city centre | |
| . | . |
| Kangaroo Island | From our BirdLife Kangaroo Island branch, we have a list of subspecies that are endemic to Kangaroo Island |
TAS Resources
| Location | Description |
|---|---|
| . | |
| State-Wide | The team at Birds in Backyards have put together a handy poster showing some of the backyard birds of Tasmania, which you can find here |
| . | |
| The following resources were produced by our BirdLife Tasmania branch: —Tasmanian Seabird Identification Guide —The 12 Tasmanian bird species which are found nowhere else on Earth. | |
| . | |
| Hobart | Urban bird watchers’ guide to Hobart |
| . | |
| King Island | .The team at Birds in Backyards have put together a handy poster showing some of the backyard birds of King Island, which you can find here |
| . |
ACT Resources
| Location | Description |
|---|---|
| . | |
| Canberra | The team at Birds in Backyards have put together a handy poster showing some of the backyard birds of Canberra, which you can find here |
| . | . |
| Canberra Ornithologist’s Group |
NT Resources
| Location | Description |
|---|---|
| . | |
| State-wide | BirdLife Top End, with support from the Australian Bird Environment Foundation, have made a poster of common and beloved local birds of the Top End, as nominated by the local community. Poster artwork by John Girdham, Darwin 2021. |
| Check out the Northern Territory Bird Watching page to find what birds you might see in the Top End and where you might find them! |
