Other Publications

Today’s young birders are tomorrow’s conservationists. Because education is one of the best tools in our efforts to save native birds, it is important to ensure that young people understand that they can help.

To allow kids to step into the shoes of some of Australia's birds, check out The Wing Thing, a kid-friendly magazine and related interactive website to fire their imagination on Hooded Plovers, Swift Parrots and Shorebirds.

For four years between 1998 and 2002, Birds Australia coordinated the largest continent-wide survey of birds in the world. Over 7000 atlassers, equipped with binoculars, field guides, GPS units and notebooks, produced 270,000 bird lists and nearly five million bird records.

The New Atlas of Australian Birds marks the culmination of these efforts, presenting 4000 distribution maps for over 650 bird species, including seasonal changes and breeding range. Change maps are also presented for 250 species, identifying those that are more common or less common since the first Atlas of Australian Birds was completed 20 years ago.

Whether birdwatching among the Snappy Gums of the Great Sandy Desert or the Snow Gums in Tasmania, The New Atlas of Australian Birds will tell you which birds you can expect to see there. Essential to environmental planners as well as bird enthusiasts, The New Atlas of Australian Birds includes a delightful range of drawings commissioned from leading Australian artists, and sets a new benchmark in our knowledge of bird distribution.

Available from CSIRO PUBLISHING and Andrew Isles Natural History Books.

Features

• Illustrations for each species
• Distribution and breeding maps for over 650 species
• Change maps that identify changes in 250 species since the first edition

If you need to know something about Australian birds or the birds of New Zealand or Antarctica, the best place to look is the Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds (HANZAB).  This multi-award winning seven-volume encyclopedia summarises everything that is known about our birds.  

Not since Gould and Buller in the 19th century or Mathews in the 1920s has anyone been so audacious as to attempt to comprehensively cover so many of Australasia's birds in a publication.  HANZAB has become a classic of modern ornithology.  Compiled by a dedicated team of ornithologists at Birds Australia, these books are a font of knowledge about the ecology, behaviour and morphology of each of the 952 species ever recorded in our region - even extinct species, introduced birds and rare visitors to our offshore islands are dealt with in detail.  All breeding species of our region have texts which cover the following aspects of their lives:

• Field Identification
• Habitat
• Distribution and Population
• Relations with humans
• Movements
• Food
• Social Organisation
• Social Behaviour
• Voice
• Breeding
• Plumages and related matters

Each text was compiled after a comprehensive and painstaking search of a wide range of sources (ornithological literature, unpublished data, university theses and personal communications), and dozens of the world's finest ornithological experts were consulted to confirm the accuracy and reliability of all accounts.  Each species is captured in all its plumage variations in specially commissioned colour plates (over 400 plates in all), each of which is exquisite, yet scientifically accurate.  There are also many black-and-white illustrations to show specific details of behaviour, morphology and the like, as well as a distribution map for each species, and sonagrams (pictorial representations) of many songs and calls. 

Because all of the information in HANZAB is presented in comprehensive but concise species accounts, it has become a vital tool in bird research and conservation work.  It summarises all that is known about each species, but also clearly states areas which are poorly understood, and that makes it an even more valuable resource.  Each account is fully referenced to aid further study.  

If you would like a copy of your own, contact reputable bookshops, such as Andrew Isles Natural History Books.

Contents of each volume of HANZAB

• Volume 1: Ratites to Ducks
• Volume 2: Raptors to Lapwings
• Volume 3: Snipes to Pigeons
• Volume 4: Parrots to Dollarbird
• Volume 5: Tyrant-flycatchers to Chats
• Volume 6: Pardalotes to Shrike-thrushes
• Volume 7: Boatbill to Starlings

Download an index below to find the species you are looking for either by common or scientific name.

Since 1980, we have produced well over a hundred reports, supplements and conservation statements, with the aim of making results from our various projects or research about threatened species or significant conservation issues available to the general public, as well as providing guidance and education on these subjects.

Reports

Initially, the reports were published as the RAOU Report Series, which comprised 112 reports. These also incorporated reports from our bird observatories, the Middlesex Field Study Centre, supplements to Bander's Aid, and early RAOU Conservation Statements. In 1997, reflecting the change of our name from RAOU to Birds Australia, the title of our report series also changed and the numbering of the reports recommenced, from Birds Australia Report Number 1. These days the Report Series documents only the results from our projects and does not include Conservation Statements or supplements. We also produced more detailed, specialised scientific reports, known as Monographs.

Conservation Statements

Our Conservation Statements, formerly either part of the RAOU Report Series or supplements to our members' magazine, have now been assembled into their own Series, originally titled RAOU or Birds Australia Conservation Statements, now badged as BirdLife Australia Conservation Statements.

Supplements

Occassional supplements on matters of national conservation significance relating to birds or for educational purposes are produced. They are scientifically accurate but accessible publications with practical application.

Download or Order your copy

Download a copy of any of these below. If you prefer a printed copy of the supplements download the order form below and return it to us. If you would like a printed copy of any of the reports contact our library.

Monograph Series

ISSN: 0815-2233

Birds Australia  produced monographs, which are lengthy scientific publications that deal with a single topic in ornithology in great detail, and they usually refer to studies on a single species, a particular suite of species or a specific region.

Monograph 1.  Beehler, Bruce M., & Finch, Brian W. 1985. Species-Checklist of the Birds of New Guinea. Pp. 127.

A comprehensive checklist of the species recorded in this poorly studied region.

Monograph 2.  Christidis, Leslie, & Boles, Walter E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia.  Pp. 112.

Incorporates a species list of all birds recorded in Australia and its territories, including extinct species, introduced species and vagrants, and a lengthy discussion of the taxonomy and taxonomic arguments used to explain changes to the previous accepted list.  This is the standard reference for common and scientific names and the taxonomic order used by Australian ornithological journals.

Monograph 3.  Czechura, Gregory, & Debus, Stephen (eds). 1997. Australian Raptor Studies II. Pp. 125.

A compilation of papers from the Australasian Raptor Association's second annual conference at Currumbin Sanctuary, Queensland in April 1996.This volume features topics on various Owl species, Diurnal Raptors, and Education and Rehabilitation of raptors in Australia.

Monograph 4.  Reid, Tim A., Hindell, Mark A., Eades, David W., & Newman, Mike. 2002. Seabird Atlas of South-eastern Australian Waters. Pp. 146.

An atlas showing the distribution of 85 species and subspecies of pelagic and other seabirds in waters from southern New South Wales, south to waters well beyond Tasmania (48°S) and west to south-eastern South Australia, including Bass Strait. Also included is a helpful introduction to the geography of the region such as rises and troughs in the ocean floor and the locations and timing of different ocean currents, as well as a discussion of the contribution of the atlas to seabird biology, and potential uses of the Seabird Atlas Database and its implications for management of the marine ecosystem in south-eastern Australia and beyond.