Kinds of Birds
Australian birds can be classified into six categories:
- Old endemics: long-established non-passerines of ultimately Gondwanan origin, notably emus, cassowaries and the huge parrot group
- Corvid radiation: Passerines peculiar to Australasia, descended from the corvid family, and now occupying a vast range of roles and sizes; examples include wrens, robins, magpies, thornbills, pardalotes, the huge honeyeater family, treecreepers, lyrebirds, birds of paradise and bowerbirds
- Eurasian colonists: later colonists from Eurasia, including plovers, swallows, larks, thrushes, cisticolas, sunbirds and some raptors
- Recent introductions: birds recently introduced by humans; some, such as the European Goldfinch and Greenfinch, appear to coexist with native fauna; others, such as the Common Starling, Blackbird, House and Tree Sparrows, and the Common Myna, are more destructive
- Migratory shorebirds: a suite of waders in the Scolopacidae and Charadriidae which breed in northern Asia and Alaska and spend the non-breeding season in Australasia
- Seabirds: a large and cosmopolitan group of petrels, albatrosses, sulids, gulls, terns and cormorants, many of which either breed on islands within Australian territory or frequent its coast and territorial waters
Read more about this topic: Birds Of Australia
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