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To the right of the frame, a male Superb Lyrebird is displaying, beak open and long white tail plumes over his head, against a dappled green forest background.
Photographed by Elmar Akhmetov
General

Birds to look out for in June

Monday, 1 June 2026

  • Estimated reading time 2 min

Birds to look out for in June

What birds might you see this month? Here are a few to look out for…

  • Powerful Owls breeding in south-eastern Australia 
  • Swift Parrots on the move across mainland south-eastern Australia in search of lerp and blossom
  • Overwintering Sanderlings foraging on ocean beaches in southern Australia  
  • Restless Flycatchers in northern Australia  
  • Superb Lyrebirds singing and displaying in south-eastern Australia
  • Silvereyes starting to depart Victoria on southern passage across Bass Strait to Tasmania
  • Australian Reed-warblers visiting the Top End for winter
  • The last Fairy Martins leaving South West WA
  • First Horsfield’s Bronze-cuckoos arriving in NSW and mainland south-eastern Australia
  • Male Satin Bowerbirds displaying in the Wet Tropics of Queensland
  • Large flocks of Long-billed Corellas feeding on crops in south-eastern Australia
  • Increasing numbers of Brown-headed Honeyeaters feeding on flowering trees near Adelaide
  • Large numbers of Rainbow Bee-eaters gathering in mangroves of Darwin area.
  • Large winter flocks of Pied Currawongs
  • Last Channel-billed Cuckoos departing northern Queensland for New Guinea and eastern Indonesia
  • Spectacled Monarchs in mangroves of northern Queensland
  • Large flocks of Striated Pardalotes in NSW
  • Mistletoebirds leaving Canberra area.
An adult Powerful Owl (left) and chick (right) perched on a eucalypt branch. Both birds are facing away from the camera but looking towards us. The chick is smaller and has more white plumage.
Powerful Owls breed in winter, with most birds laying in May and April. Powerful Owl adult (left) and chick by Andrew Silcocks

Interesting historical records from June:

4/6/1996  Purple-backed Starling  |  Christmas Island  |  1st record for Australia  

12/6/1981  Superb Fruit-Dove  |  Elizabeth Town, Tas.  |  4th record for Tasmania  

13/6/2010  Semipalmated Plover  |  Clonmel Island, Vic.  |  1st record for Victoria  

17/6/1984  Sabine’s Gull  |  Port Macdonnell, SA  |  1st record for SA  

18/6/1995  Short-billed Dowitcher  |  Corner Inlet, Vic.  |  1st record for Australia  

22/6/1969  Grey-backed Storm-Petrel  |  Bulli, NSW  |  1st record for NSW  

What birds have you seen?

Log your bird sightings on Birdata, our national bird monitoring program, and contribute valuable data to help Australia’s birds.

Head to birdata.birdlife.org.au to get started today, or watch our handy video tutorial below to find out how to submit a 2ha 20 min survey of your own.

Related information

Program
Birdata

To save birds, we need reliable data. Birdata is Australia's online national bird monitoring platform. Compiled by professional researchers and citizen scientists, Birdata is Australia's longest running digital database for bird sightings with more than 30 million records (and counting).

Event
Swift Parrot Search

Join in the Swift Parrot Search and help to collect crucial data across the mainland range of this critically endangered migratory species.