1. Torresian crow Corvus orru

This crow is the most common corvid species in Brisbane, and like its raven cousins, it is all black with white eyes. It has shorter throat hackles than ravens, and shuffles its wings upon landing.

Torresian crows are intelligent. They have learned how to eat cane toads without ingesting their poison. They flip the toad onto its back and whack it with their bill, and then feed only on the intestines and thighs, avoiding the poisonous skin secretions. This behaviour is culturally transmitted between individuals.

An opportunistic species, Torresian crows have expanded their range and increased in number with growing urbanisation across their range. They are aggressive and will attack other birds – including larger species. From January to August, bands of marauding crows roam across the suburbs.

Size: 50cm

Call: nasal ‘uk-uk-uk’

Where to spot them: common in urban areas of Brisbane, requires tall trees for nesting and a permanent water source

2. White-headed pigeon Columba leucomela

These fruit-munching fatties were previously confined to rainforest habitats, but they have learnt to exploit the abundant introduced camphor laurel and are now frequent visitors to suburban gardens.

This bird looks exactly as its name suggests: a large pigeon with a white head. Their breast and neck are also white, while the rest of their plumage is grey. Males have a glossy sheen to their feathers, while females are greyer and duller.

White-headed pigeons are quite secretive, hanging out in the canopy. They can be pretty flappy when flying, so listen out for beating wings in the treetops.

Size: 40cm

Call: slow, booming ‘oom-coo’

Where to spot them: rainforest, feeding on camphor laurel in urban areas, will come to birdfeeders

3. Australian pelican Pelecanus conspicillatus

Pelicans are large, rotund birds with a gigantic pink bill. Up to 50cm in length, the pelican’s bill is the longest of any living bird. It also features an expandable throat pouch that can fit up to 13 litres. Pelicans are predominantly white with a dark back and dark undersides on their wing feathers. They have a wingspan up to 2.6m.

Pelicans mostly eat fish, but have been known to scavenge for scraps or even eat other birds (swallowed whole). They inhabit bodies of water including estuaries, lakes, rivers and reservoirs. As long as there is water and food to eat, pelicans aren’t fussy.

Size: big – 170cm from beak-tip to tail

Call: grunting, belching

Where to spot them: near water

4. Satin bowerbird Ptilonorhynchus violaceus

Male bowerbirds are dressed beak-to-tail in a glossy metallic black. Females are garbed much more plainly; in olive-brown upperparts and wings, and a light buff-coloured underside with a scalloped pattern. Juveniles resemble females until the age of five. Both sexes have a striking violet-blue eye.

Male bowerbirds build an impressive structure out of sticks called a bower. They decorate it with blue things: berries, flowers and even bits of plastic. When a female comes to visit, he puts on a mating display. If she likes his moves and his interior decorating, the pair will mate.

Satin bowerbirds prefer wetter areas of forest, but they have adapted well to introduced fruiting plants such as camphor laurel

5. Black swan Cygnus atratus

Huge black birds with long necks, red bills and red eyes, black swans cast a distinctive silhouette across Australia’s lagoons, lakes and wetlands. Black swans eat by dipping their long neck into the water to reach the algae and weeds on the bottom.

Black swans have a somewhat iconic status in Australian culture since their discovery surprised Europeans in 1697. As Tim Low said on his Wild Journey blog, “Swans were never meant to be black; in medieval Europe unicorns had more credibility.”

Size: big!142cm

Call: soft yet far-reaching bugle-like ‘bonk’

Where to spot them: wetlands, lagoons and lakes

6. Royal spoonbill Platalea regia

A snowy white wading bird, spoonbills are easily identified by their long black bill with a rounded end. They use this handy inbuilt spoon like a pair of tongs, scooping up yabbies and other tasty snacks in shallow water. Royal spoonbills have black faces with yellow eyebrows and a red patch on their forehead. They have a yellowish-tan splotch on their breast.

Spoonbills are also distinctive in flight, with their long necks outstretched. During breeding season, they grow a headdress of long white plumes, which can be raised to reveal a strip of pink skin.

Size: 80cm

Call: growling, grunting, honking

Where to spot them: wetlands, mudflats, damp pasture, artificial bodies of water including sewage ponds and dams

7. Australian brush turkey Alectura lathami

Brush turkeys, also known as bush or scrub turkeys, are yet another species that have adapted to modern city life. Easily recognisable by their bright red bald head, yellow throat dangler, black plumage and fanned-out tail, brush turkeys have invaded the suburbs of Brisbane.

They often scratch up gardens looking for food, and males build large compost heaps out of vegetation, up to four metres across. Brush turkeys build these mounds to incubate their eggs. The dad will stick his beak into the muck of leaves, dirt and twigs to check the temperature remains a cosy 35 degrees, and adjust the mound as necessary.

Size: 70cm

Call: low grunting

Where to spot them: urban treed areas, bushy gardens

8. Scaly-breasted lorikeet Trichoglossus chlorolepidotus

Similar in size to its raucous rainbow cousins, scaly-breasted lorikeets are decked out all in green with flecked yellow ‘scales’ on their chest. This plumage allows them to blend into the foliage, so it may take a while to spot these lorikeets even if you can hear their noisy antics! They have a bright red beak and eyes, and outspread wings reveal a flash of coral beneath.

They form screeching flocks – sometimes mixed with rainbow lorikeets – and snack on nectar and pollen with their brush tongues. Preferred food sources include eucalypts, banksias and melaleucas – as well as cultivated fruits.

Size: 23cm

Call: high-pitched screeches

Where to spot them: lowland eucalypt forests, well-vegetated urban parks and gardens – especially those with flowering gums or umbrella trees

Red-browed finch Neochmia temporalis

Red-browed finches are easily identified by their bright red eyebrow, beak and rump, contrasting against their olive-green upperparts and dull grey underparts. Social little cheepers, these finches form flocks of 10-20 birds and feed on seeds in edge zones with sufficient shrub cover. They can be attracted to garden bird feeders, especially if larger birds are excluded.

Size: 11cm

Call: high-pitched cheeping whistles

Where to spot them: open grassy areas surrounded by dense shrubbery, at garden bird feeders

10. Spangled drongo Dicrurus bracteatus

Spangled drongos are metallic black with iridescent dots of blue and green (‘spangles’), a red eye and a forked tail. These active birds perform swooping acrobatics – but it’s not these comical antics that led to ‘drongo’ becoming Aussie slang for ‘idiot’. Instead, this usage stems from an unlucky 1920s racehorse named Drongo, who failed to win a race despite multiple starts.

Spangled drongos can be seen in the hills around Brisbane during spring and summer where they breed and raise their young. They occasionally visit urban areas and can be tamed; they will swoop to snatch morsels of meat that are thrown into the air.

While these amusing swooping acrobatics may seem to be the origin of the drongo-idiot word association, the insult in fact stems from a racehorse of the same name who failed to win a single race out of 37 starts.

These entertaining birds have an amazing array of calls, including metallic twangs, loud sneezes, crackling chatters and mimicry of other birds.

Size: 30cm

Call: harsh buzzing interspersed with high-pitched whistles

Where to spot them: wet forests, mangroves, parks

11. Bush-stone curlew Burhinus grallarius

Also known as the bush thick-knee, bush stone-curlews are long-legged, ground-dwelling birds best-known for their unnerving wailing call heard at night. They are mostly a dull brown on their back, streaked with black and varying shades of brown. Their underparts are off-white with dark streaks, and they have large yellow eyes framed by a white eyebrow.

Bush stone-curlews are nocturnal, foraging for a range of insects, seeds, lizards and molluscs at night. During breeding season from July to January, they perform an elaborate courtship ritual. Birds stretch out their wings, fan up their tails and extend their necks forward, stamping their feet as if marching, and screaming continuously. This rhythmic boogie/karaoke sesh can continue for up to an hour at a time.

Bush stone-curlews were once widespread in suitable habitats across Australia, but numbers have drastically declined in NSW and Victoria. Luckily, they remain relatively common in the Brisbane region.

Size: 56cm

Call: eerie high-pitched ‘weeerr-loooo’, often heard at dusk

Where to spot them: common in a wide array of habitats including grasslands, golf courses and open woodland

12. Regent bowerbird Sericulus chrysocephalus

Male regent bowerbirds are striking with their jet-black plumage and gold accents. Their crowns, wings, bill and irises are bright yellow. In contrast, females are mottled brown.

In the damp rainforests around Brisbane, you can find their corridor-like bowers –mating halls that males construct with sticks to impress the ladies. He will decorate his bower with a range of coloured objects, or give it a bluish paint job with his own saliva. Regent bowerbirds have been recorded smearing this ‘saliva paint’ with leaves – one of the few instances of tool use among birds.

Size: 28cm

Call: chattering – R2D2-like beeps interspersed with wheezes

Where to spot them: forests (especially rainforests), sometimes attracted to picnic areas

13. Pale-headed rosella Platycercus adscitus

Decked out in varying shades of blue and yellow, pale-headed rosellas are similar to their eastern rosella relatives, with a creamy coloured head in place of the eastern variety’s bright red. The two species have even been known to hybridise where their ranges overlap in northern NSW.

Pale-headed rosellas are native to north-eastern Australia, where they inhabit open woodlands and farmland. A hardy species, they are popular in aviculture and wild populations may be at risk of illegal trapping for the pet trade. Pale-headed rosellas were introduced to Hawaii in 1877, but died out by the 1920s.

Size: 31cm

Call: soft chattering, high-pitched ‘pee-pee-pee-pee’ when perched; ‘kwik-kwik’ in flight

Where to spot them: usually on the ground in grassy areas, farmland

14. Sacred kingfisher Todiramphus sanctus

Found throughout the southwest Pacific, the sacred kingfisher is named for its revered status in Polynesian cultures. Pacific peoples believed these small turquoise birds controlled the ocean waves.

Sacred kingfishers have metallic aqua blue backs and heads, a black eye-band, and off-white collar and belly. Their industrial-strength beak is used to scoop up prey. Despite their ‘fisher’ moniker, they tend to hunt on land more than in the water. They can be spotted in forests and mangroves.

Size: 21cm

Call: loud rhythmic ‘kee-kee-kee-kee’

Where to spot them: Sitting on an open perch, wooded habitats including suburbs

15. Topknot pigeon Lopholaimus antarcticus

Topknot pigeons are named for their swept-back rust-red toupee, reminiscent of Donald Trump’s ginger-tinged combover. The rest of their plumage consists of varying shades of mottled grey with dark grey wings.

Like their white-headed cousins, topknot pigeons are rainforest-dwellers. You can spot them high in the canopy, performing a dazzling array of aerobatics to reach tasty morsels, accompanied by screeches of delight and a flurry of falling fruit. They also have a taste for introduced camphor laurel and privet.

Size: 50cm

Call: soft cooing, occasional screech

Where to spot them: rainforests, feeding on camphor laurel and privet

16. Grey Butcherbird Cracticus torquatus

These feisty little birds are named for their habit of impaling prey on sticks, or hanging it in tree forks. Butcherbirds have a little hook in the end of their upper bill – perfect for grabbing prey such as small lizards, birds and insects.

They look vaguely like a small kingfisher, but have a black head, white underside, grey back and thin white collar. Juveniles have browner colouring.

Size: 27cm

Call: enchanting musical call, interspersed with harsher notes

Where to spot them: Sitting on an open perch, wooded habitats including suburbs

17. Rufous whistler Pachycephala rufiventris

Although understated in appearance, the rufous whistler warbles a series of enchanting melodious notes. Rufous whistlers are thickset with stubby beaks and a long, squarish tail. Males have grey backs, cinnamon-stained tums, a black eye band and collar, and a white chin. Females are dull grey-brown with streaks along their underside.

Rufous whistlers visit gardens with plenty of shrubs and trees. Unlike other whistlers, they never feed on the ground – so look for them foraging for insects and seeds amongst the foliage.

Size: 17cm

Call: loud ringing repeated cheep

Where to spot them: well-vegetated farmland and suburbs, forest with bushy understorey

18. Rose-crowned fruit-dove Ptilinopus regina

Cloaked in an emerald green with bright splashes of yellow, orange and pink, the rose-crowned fruit-dove is the avian embodiment of a tropical sunset. Both male and female sport a bright pink cap, and the male bows his head to show off this magenta crown, fit for a rainforest king, to potential mates.

Rose-crowned fruit-doves live in vine-filled tropical forests across northern and eastern Australia, where they feed on fruits, palms and vines, as well as the non-native fave of many pigeons and doves: camphor laurel.

Size: 23cm

Call: explosive‘woo-up-woo’ descending into a rapid ‘coocoocoocoo’

Where to spot them: rainforest, feeding on fruit high in the canopy – listen out for their call or the sound of dropping fruit

19. Red-backed fairy-wren Malurus melanocephalus

Like their blue-hued cousins, red-backed fairy wrens are notoriously unfaithful. Chicks in the same nest will often have different fathers. Just as humans court with red roses, male red-backed fairy wrens pluck red petals from flowers to seduce potential partners.

These teensy black-and-scarlet feather-balls are the smallest of the fairy wrens. They live in grasslands and woodlands with grassy ground cover, and can often be seen flitting in family flocks. These groups usually comprise one strikingly-coloured male and numerous dull brown birds (juveniles, females and males in non-breeding plumage).

Size: 11cm

Call: fast, high-pitched tweeting

Where to spot them: dense understorey, tall grasses

20. Blue-faced honeyeater Entomyzon cyanotis

If you’re an early riser, you may be treated to the song of the blue-faced honeyeater, one of the first birds to call at dawn. Olive-green with a white underbody, these honeyeaters are named for the vivid blue eyepatch on their otherwise black head.

Blue-faced honeyeaters forage for insects, nectar and fruit in noisy flocks. In tropical regions, they are sometimes called bananabirds due to their preference for the fruit and flowers of banana trees.

These resourceful birds are the ultimate DIYers, taking up residence and renovating abandoned babbler nests.

Size: 29cm

Call: sharp ‘woik’, soft ‘hwit’, ‘weet-weet-weet’ at daybreak, squeaking in flight

Where to spot them: urban parks, gardens, golf courses, woodlands and forests near water