ReefBlitz Common Bird Species
This is a guide to the 100 most common bird species found around Cannonvale Beach, compiled from data from the Atlas of Living Australia
Straw-necked Ibis
The Straw-necked Ibis (Threskiornis spinicollis) is a bird of the ibis and spoonbill family Threskiornithidae. It can be found throughout Australia, New Guinea, and parts of Indonesia. Adults have distinctive straw-like feathers on their neck.
Intermediate Egret
The Intermediate Egret, median egret,smaller egret or yellow-billed egret (Mesophoyx intermedia) is a medium-sized heron. Some taxonomists put the species in the genus Egretta or Ardea. It is a resident breeder from east Africa across the Indian subcontinent to Southeast Asia and Australia.
White-faced Heron
The White-faced Heron (Egretta novaehollandiae) also known as the White-fronted Heron, and incorrectly as the Grey Heron, or Blue Crane, is a common bird throughout most of Australasia, including New Guinea, the islands of Torres Strait, Indonesia, New Zealand, the islands of the Subantarctic, and all but the driest areas of Australia.
Yellow-billed Spoonbill
The Yellow-billed Spoonbill (Platalea flavipes) is common in southeast Australia; it is not unusual on the remainder of the continent, and is a vagrant to New Zealand, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. It is around 90 cm (35 in) long, and has white plumage with a yellow bill, legs and feet. It nests in trees, marshes or reed-beds, and often roosts in trees. It occurs in ...more ↓
Striated Heron
The Striated Heron (Butorides striata) also known as Mangrove Heron, Little Heron or Green-backed Heron, is a small heron. Striated Herons are mostly non-migratory and noted for some interesting behavioral traits. Their breeding habitat is small wetlands in the Old World tropics from west Africa to Japan and Australia, and in South America. Vagrants have ...more ↓
Australian Pelican
The Australian Pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus) is a large waterbird of the family Pelecanidae, widespread on the inland and coastal waters of Australia and New Guinea, also in Fiji, parts of Indonesia and as a vagrant to New Zealand. It is a predominantly white bird with black wings and a pink bill. It has been recorded as having the longest bill of any living bird. It mainly ...more ↓
Royal Spoonbill
The Royal Spoonbill (Platalea regia) also known as the Black-billed Spoonbill, occurs in intertidal flats and shallows of fresh and saltwater wetlands in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands. It has also been recorded as a vagrant in New Caledonia. The Royal Spoonbill lives in wetlands and feeds on crustaceans, fish and small ...more ↓
Australian Ibis
The Australian white ibis (Threskiornis moluccus) is a wading bird of the ibis family, Threskiornithidae. It is widespread across much of Australia. It has a predominantly white plumage with a bare, black head, long downcurved bill and black legs.
Eastern Great Egret
The Eastern Great Egret (Ardea alba modesta), a white heron in the genus Ardea, is a subspecies of the Great Egret (A. alba). It was first described by British ornithologist John Edward Gray in 1831.
Rufous Night-Heron
The Nankeen Night Heron (Nycticorax caledonicus) also commonly referred to as the Rufous Night Heron, and in Melanesia as Melabaob, is a medium-sized heron. It is found throughout much of Australia except the arid inland, Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and Melanesia. A small colony has also established near Wanganui, New Zealand
