The Antarctic Tern (Sterna vittata) is a typical tern. It ranges throughout the southern oceans. It is very similar in appearance to the closely related Arctic Tern, but is stockier, and the wing tips are grey instead of blackish in flight. It is, of course, in breeding plumage in the southern summer, when Arctic has moulted to its non-breeding appearance.
The Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea) is a seabird of the ternfamilySternidae. This bird has a circumpolar distribution, breeding colonially in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America (as far south as Brittany and Massachusetts). The species is strongly migratory, seeing two summers each year as it migrates from its northern breeding grounds to the oceans around Antarctica and back (about 24,000 miles) each year. This is the longest regular migration by any known animal.
The Banded Lapwing (Vanellus tricolor) is a small to medium sized wader which belongs to the plover family. It is found over most of Australia and Tasmania though is absent from the northern third of the continent.
The Banded Stilt, Cladorhynchus leucocephalus, is a stilt. This species is endemic to Australia, and gets its name from the red-brown breast band found on breeding adults.
The Bar-tailed Godwit, Limosa lapponica, is a large shorebird from the familyScolopacidae. This species makes the longest non-stop flight known for any bird, 11,000 km from Alaska to New Zealand (BTO News 258: 3, 2005).
The Beach Stone-curlew, Esacus giganteus also known as Beach Thick-knee is a large, ground-dwelling bird occurs in Australasia and the islands of South-east Asia.
The Black NoddyAnous minutus is a seabird from the ternfamily. It resembles the related Brown or Common Noddy, but is smaller with darker plumage, a whiter cap, a longer, straighter beak and shorter tail. It is also called the White-capped Noddy.
The Black Tern, Chlidonias niger, is a small tern generally found in or near inland water in Europe and North America. As its name suggests, it has predominantly dark plumage.
The Black-faced Sheathbill (Chionis minor), also known as the Lesser Sheathbill or Paddy, is one of only two species of sheathbills, aberrant shorebirds which are terrestrial scavengers of subantarctic islands.
The Black-fronted Dotterel (Elseyornis melanops) is a small, slender plover, widespread throughout most of Australia, to which it is native and New Zealand, where it self introduced in the 1950's.[1] It is common in freshwater wetlands, around the edges of lakes and billabongs, and in shallow, temporary claypan pools. It is also found occupying saline mudflats and estuaries, but rarely.
The Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus) is a small gull which breeds in much of Europe and Asia, and also in coastal eastern Canada. Most of the population is migratory, wintering further south, but some birds in the milder westernmost areas of Europe are resident. Some birds will also spend the winter in the northeastern United States.
The Black-naped TernSterna sumatrana is an oceanic tern mostly found in tropical and subtropical areas of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. It is rarely found inland.
The Black-tailed Gull (Larus crassirostris) is a medium-sized (46cm) gull, with a wingspan of 126-128 cm. The bird is resident in East Asia, including China, Japan and Korea. It is a vagrant to Alaska and northeastern North America.
The Bridled Tern (Onychoprion anaethetus, formerly Sterna anaethetus - see Bridge et al., 2005) is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. It is a bird of the tropical oceans. The Atlantic subspeciesmelanopters breeds in Mexico, the Caribbean and west Africa; other races occur around the Arabia and in Southeast Asia and Australasia, but the exact number of valid subspecies is disputed.
The Broad-billed Sandpiper, Limicola falcinellus, is a small wadingbird. It is the only member of the genusLimicola; some have proposed that it should be placed in the genus Erolia with the "stint" sandpipers[citation needed], but more recent research (Thomas et al., 2004) suggests that it is should rather go into the genus Philomachus with the ruff and possibly the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper; it certainly is a fairly unusual calidrid.
The Brown Skua (Catharacta antarctica) is often referred to as Antarctic Skua (or vice versa); the taxonomy of Skuas is still a matter of dispute. Other names (probably owing to the high level of hybridization in this species) include Southern Great Skua, Southern Skua or Subantarctic Skua. The New ZealandMāori call it Hākoakoa. It breeds circumpolar in the sub-Antarctic and Antarctic zones.
The Buff-breasted Buttonquail is the largest and possibly the rarest of the buttonquail. This species is endemic to extreme northeastern Australia, in northern Queensland from near Coen to Mareeba west of Cairns.
The Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Tryngites subruficollis, is a small shorebird. It is a calidridsandpipers and presently considered to be the only member of the genus Tryngites. Indeed, it probably belongs in the genus Calidris itself, or more precisely with the small species thereof which should be split into a distinct genus (Thomas et al, 2004). Depending on whether this would include the Curlew Sandpiper or not, the name Erolia would or would not, respectively, apply.
The Bush Stone-curlew (Burhinus grallarius) is a large, ground-dwelling bird endemic to Australia. Although it looks rather like a wader and is related to the oystercatchers, avocets and plovers, it is a dry-land predator: essentially a winged terrestrial carnivore.
The Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia formerly Sterna caspia - see Bridge et al., 2005) is the largest tern, growing to 23 inches, with a wingspan up to 4.5 feet. In New Zealand it is also known by the Maori name Taranui.
The Comb-crested Jacana (Irediparra gallinacea), also known as the Lotusbird or Lilytrotter, is the only species of jacana in the genus Irediparra. As with other jacana species, it is adapted to the floating vegetation of tropical freshwater wetlands.
The GreenshankTringa nebularia is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae, the typical waders. Its closest relative is the Greater Yellowlegs, together with which and the Spotted Redshank it forms a close-knit group. Among them, these three species show all the basic leg and foot colours found in the shanks, demonstrating that this character is paraphyletic (Pereira & Baker, 2005). They are also the largest shanks apart from the Willet, which is altogether more robustly built. The Greater Yellowlegs and the Greenshank share a coarse, dark, and fairly crisp breast pattern as well as much black on the shoulders and back in breeding plumage. This is a subarctic bird, breeding from northern Scotland eastwards across northern Europe and Asia. It is a migratory species, wintering in Africa, south Asia, and Australasia, usually on fresh water. It breeds on dry ground near marshy areas, laying about four eggs in a ground scrape.
The Brown Noddy or Common NoddyAnous stolidus is a seabird from the ternfamily. The largest of the noddies, it can be told from the closely related Black Noddy by its larger size and plumage, which is dark brown rather than black. The Brown Noddy is a tropical seabird with a worldwide distribution, ranging from Hawaii to the Tuamotu Archipelago and Australia in the Pacific Ocean, from the Red Sea to the Seychelles and Australia in the Indian Ocean and in the Caribbean to Tristan da Cunha in the Atlantic Ocean. The Brown Noddy is colonial, usually nesting on the in elevated situations on cliffs or in short trees or shrubs. It only occasionally nests on the ground. A single egg is laid by the female of a pair each breeding season.
The Common Redshank or Redshank (Tringa totanus) is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae, the typical waders. It is closest to the small Wood Sandpiper, and also closely related to the Marsh Sandpiper (Pereira & Baker, 2005). These are a group of smallish shanks which tend to have red or reddish legs, and in breeding plumage are generally a subdued, light brown above with some darker mottling, with a pattern of somewhat diffuse small brownish spots on the breast and neck.
The Common Sandpiper, Actitis hypoleucos, is a small wader, 18 - 20 cm long with a 32-35 cm wingspan. Together with its sister species, the Spotted Sandpiper (A. macularia) they make up the genusActitis. They replace each other geographically; stray birds may settle down with breeders of the other species and hybridize. Hybridization has also been reported between the Common Sandpiper and the Green Sandpiper, a basal species of the closely related shank genus Tringa.
The Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. This bird has a circumpolar distribution breeding in temperate and sub-arctic regions of Europe, Asia and east and central North America. It is strongly migratory, wintering in the subtropical and tropical oceans. It is sometimes known as the sea swallow.
The Greater Crested Tern, Crested Tern, or Swift Tern (Thalasseus bergii, syn. Sterna bergii - see Bridge et al., 2005), is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae.
The Double-banded Plover, Charadrius bicinctus, is a small wader in the plover family of birds. It lives in beaches, mud flats, grasslands and on bare ground.
The Dunlin, Calidris or Erolia alpina, is a small wader. It is a circumpolar breeder in Arctic or subarctic regions. Birds that breed in northern Europe and Asia are long-distance migrants, wintering south to Africa and southeast Asia. Birds that breed in Alaska and the Canadian Arctic migrate short distances to the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of North America.
The Far Eastern Curlew or Eastern Curlew (Numenius madagascariensis) is a large shorebird most similar in appearance to the Long-billed Curlew, but slightly larger. It is mostly brown in color, differentiated from other curlews by its plain, unpatterned brown underwing. It has the longest bill of any shorebird.
The Franklin's Gull (Larus pipixcan) is a small gull. It breeds in central provinces of Canada and adjacent states of the northern USA. It is migratory, wintering in the Caribbean, Peru and Chile.
The Greater Sand Plover, Charadrius leschenaultii, is a small wader in the plover family of birds. The spelling is commonly given as greater sandplover, but the official British Ornithologists' Union spelling is greater sand plover.
The Green Sandpiper, Tringa ochropus, is a small wader (shorebird). Its only close relative in the genus Tringa is the Solitary Sandpiper (Pereira & Baker, 2005); they both have brown wings with little light dots, and a delicate but contrasting neck and chest pattern. In addition, both species nest in trees, unlike most other scolopacids.
The Red Phalarope (called Grey Phalarope in Europe), Phalaropus fulicaria, is a small wader. This phalarope breeds in the Arctic regions of North America and Eurasia. It is migratory, and, unusually for a wader, migrating mainly on oceanic routes and wintering at sea on tropical oceans.
The Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola), known as the Black-bellied Plover in North America, is a medium-sized plover breeding in arctic regions. It is a long-distance migrant, with a nearly world-wide coastal distribution when not breeding.[1]
The Grey-tailed Tattler, Tringa brevipes (formerly Heteroscelus brevipes: Pereira & Baker, 2005; Banks et al., 2006), is a small shorebird. It is closely related to its North American counterpart, the Wandering Tattler (T. incana) and is difficult to distinguish from that species. Both tattlers are unique among the species of Tringa for having unpatterned, greyish wings and back, and a scaly breast pattern extending more or less onto the belly in breeding plumage, in which both also have a rather prominent supercilium.
Birds of Australia 
NEW
not too much longer now :)