Black and white, with the pattern varying across its range. The back of its neck, upper tail and shoulders (on its wings) are white in males and grey in females, and (across most of Australia) the rest of its body is black. In south-eastern, central and south-western Australia, including Tasmania, its back and rump are entirely white. Its eye is red-brown. Young birds are usually grey rather than black and have dark eyes.

Distinctive feature

One toe faces backwards and three face forwards. It has a square-tipped tail.

The Black Wattle plays an important role in Australia's ecosystems. As a pioneer plant it quickly binds erosion-prone soil following bushfires. Like other leguminous plants, it fixes the atmospheric nitrogen in the soil. Other woodland species can rapidly use these increased nitrogen levels provided by the nodules of bacteria present in their expansive root systems. Hence they play a critical part in natural regeneration after bushfires.

Spreading tree which grows to 5 - 15 m tall. Bark is smooth and of greenish-brown colour on young branches. Blackish and rough on trunk. Distinct yellow flowers in September to December.

Leaves

Fern-like bipinnate leaves (leaflets that are further subdivided in an arrangement of leaves on either side of the stem). Olive green in colour. Raised glands are present at the junction of and between each pinnae (little leaf).

Flowers

Pale yellow or sometimes cream coloured ball-shaped inflorescences (clusters of flowers arranged on a stem). Flowering occurs from September through to December. Highly perfumed.

Also known as Blueberry Lily, a long, feathery shrub with flowers sticking up above the leaves.

Long green pointy leaves with vibrant blue to purple inflorescences (flower clusters). Grows up to 1.5 m high.

Leaves

Long, feathery, smooth green leaves. 15 - 85 cm long with 4 - 15 mm width. Pointy ends and long and stiff throughout. Can sometimes appear red towards base but this is rare.

Flowers

Flowers stick up above the leaves, consisting of 6 purple petals (7 - 12 mm length) and 6 stamens (pollen-bearing part of the flower) in a ring. These are long, thick and have brown to black tips with yellow stems.

The caterpillar (larva) is initially pale yellow with fine hairs, before turning green. It has narrow yellow lines on its body which are sometimes hard to see. The upper side of the butterfly (adult) is white with a black tip on its forewing (front wing) and a black patch on the front edge of its hindwing. A male has one black spot on its forewing, while a female has two black spots. Looking from underneath, the forewing is white with two black spots and the hindwing is yellow.

Size

Caterpillar about 3.5 cm; Butterfly up to 5 cm wingspan.

The Channel-billed Cuckoo is grey all over, with dark scalloping on its back and wing-coverts, a whitish belly and abdomen, and fine dark barring on the lower underbody. Its long tail is pale-grey on top with two central feathers tipped with white, with a black band near the tip; the undertail has black-and-white barring. In flight, its tail and wings give it a cross-shaped silhouette. Its eyes are bright red and there is a bare patch of red skin around the eye and near the base of the bill. Its legs and feet are dark grey.

Young birds are mottled buff, brown and grey, have an olive to brown eye and lack the red-colouring around its eye.

Distinctive feature

Its large, downward-curved beak which is greyish with a paler tip.

Shrub or small pyramidal tree, yellowish green or bronzy. Commonly 8 - 10 m high.

Numerous branchlets are hairy and flaky at first then become smooth and straight.The swollen orange to red stalk preceding the small hard fruit is often mistaken as the fruit itself.

Leaves

Scale-like, triangular, 0.5 mm long and 2 – 3 mm long on new growth.

Flowers

Yellow-green flowers in short, dense, clusters that are usually 6 mm long. Flowers appear in early spring to autumn (September to May).

The adult male is black with a deep-orange to yellow beak, a narrow orange to yellow ring around its eye, and dark legs. The female is grey-brown, with some streaks or mottling, and its back is darker than its belly. The female also has a paler chin than the male, a dull yellow-brown beak, dark legs, and the ring around her eye is less bright. Young birds are also brown but with lighter underparts and a dark grey or black beak.

Size

25 to 28 cm (from head to tail)

The caterpillar (larva) is initially a pale yellow-grey, before turning green with long black hairs along its body. Its head is brown-black with short hairs. The female butterfly (adult) is orange with creamy yellow and dark brown patches towards the tip of its forewings (front wings). The male is less colourful, being brown and orange with no pale patches. It also has an obvious raised vein in the middle of its forewing. Both males and females have a small eye-spot on each wing. The undersides of the wings in both the male and female are paler with faint markings, and their hindwings have very few markings. The female’s hindwing is darker then its forewing. It is difficult to identify these butterflies when they are resting with their wings closed. The males emerge quite a while earlier in the year before the females.

Size

Caterpillar about 3.5 cm long; Butterfly wingspan 5.5 – 7.5 cm (females are larger than males).

Black and white, with the pattern varying across its range. The back of its neck, upper tail and shoulders (on its wings) are white in males and grey in females, and (across most of Australia) the rest of its body is black. In south-eastern, central and south-western Australia, including Tasmania, its back and rump are entirely white. Its eye is red-brown. Young birds are usually grey rather than black and have dark eyes.

Distinctive feature

One toe faces backwards and three face forwards. It has a square-tipped tail.

This frog goes by several common names: Eastern Banjo Frog, Eastern Pobblebonk Frog and Southern Bullfrog. The first two are based on its distinctive 'bonk' call which sounds similar to the string of a banjo being plucked.

Its back ranges from grey, to olive-green, dark brown or black, with dark marbling or flecks. It has a pale yellow stripe running from under its eye to its arm, a dark band above this, and may also have a pale stripe running down its back. Its sides commonly have a purple or bronze sheen, mottled with black. Its belly is white and sometimes mottled with grey. Its back is warty and rough but its belly is smooth.

Distinctive feature

A prominent gland on the outer side of its hind leg (its shin) and a fleshy lump at the base of each hind foot.

The adult male is a distinctive glossy black tinged with iridescent blue and green all over, including its long tail, and it has a striking red eye. The female is glossy brown with white spots on top, and buff-cream underneath with many fine black bars running across its belly. The top of its head is black or brown with pale streaks, and its tail is brown with white bars running across it. A young bird looks like an adult female but has buff barring on its wings and generally much more buff colouring.

The top of the adult male's head is grey-black, extending in a line down either side of its white breast. Its throat is also white, with a rufous patch in the centre. Its wings and lower back are dark metallic grey and its upper back and underneath are buff. In flight, its white outer tail feathers are visible. The female has similar but duller colouring. A young bird has less distinct markings with dark olive on top of its head, a white chin and throat and a cinnamon chest and belly.

Distinctive feature

It has a very long, fine beak that curves downward.

It has a grey back and head, and bright-yellow underparts. Southern birds have an olive-yellow rump, while birds in northern Australia have a brighter yellow rump. Its throat is off-white and when seen in flight, it has a pale bar on its wings. Its bill is black. Young birds are rufous-brown with paler streaks.

Size

13 – 17 cm long, the males are slightly larger

Bright yellow and black bands across its abdomen, with a pair of black spots and a black triangle on each yellow band. It has yellow legs, black antennae and two pairs of transparent wings. Nests are commonly built underground with only their small entrance holes visible, which are about 2 - 3 cm across.

Size

1.2 – 1.5 cm long (worker); 2 cm long (queen)

A beetle with a shiny black back and head with bright yellow-green markings, and dark brown to black legs.

Distinctive feature

Violin-shaped markings on its back (after which it is named).

Size

About 2 cm

Grey-brown to bronze, with a dark stripe running along each side of its body from its nostril, across its eye to its tail, getting wider from its front legs. Its body pales below the stripe to a cream belly.

This species has a lighter body with a less obvious stripe running along its sides than the Southern Garden Skink.

Size

8 - 10 cm (nose to end of tail).

Grey-brown to bronze, with a dark stripe running along each side of its body from its nostril, across its eye to its tail, getting wider from its front legs. Its body pales below the stripe to a cream belly.

This species has a ‘heavier’ looking body and a more obvious stripe running along its sides, compared to the Northern Garden Skink.

Size

8 - 10 cm (nose to end of tail).

Bushy or straggly shrub, branchlets more or less angled at extremities, smooth or hairy. Bark is smooth, grey to brown. Commonly grows to 2.5 m high.

Leaves

Has phyllodes (flattened leaf stalks) that are rounded, usually asymmetric 0.4 – 1.5 cm long and 2 – 8 mm wide, hairy or smooth. Leaf midrib (large midline vein) is obscure or absent, lateral veins also absent.

Flowers

Bright yellow ball-shaped inflorescences (clusters flowers arranged on a stem) that form in patterns of 5. Flowers appear in late winter and spring and into early summer (July to November).

The species name pycnantha from the Greek (pyknos) meaning dense, and (anthos) meaning a flower, refers to the dense clusters of flowers.

Small shrub or tree. Usually 3 - 8 m high.

Leaves

Has phyllodes (flattened leaf stalks) that are pinnate (arranged opposite each other on either side of the stem) and sickle-shaped 9 - 15 cm long and 1 - 3.5 cm wide; branchlets on leaves are hairy, sometimes covered in white powdery granules.

Flowers

Bright golden and sometimes lemon-yellow ball-shaped inflorescences (clusters flowers arranged on a stem). Flowers appear in late winter and spring and into early summer (July to November).

The adult male has a bright-yellow underbody, olive-green back and wings, and a black head with a bright-yellow collar. Its throat is white, with a broad black band which separates it from the yellow breast. Its beak and legs are black. The adult female has grey upperparts with a pale olive tinge, and is pale grey below with a pale yellowish tinge. Its beak is dark brown and its legs are grey-brown. Both sexes have a red-brown eye. Juvenile birds are rufous above and below, and as they mature, gradually resemble a female, though they retain some rufous feathers in their wings.

A reference to its yellow resin, Xanthorrhoea literally means "yellow flow" in Ancient Greek. Grass-tree is a misnomer. Its not a grass, nor a tree.They are actually distantly related to lilies.

Perennial flowering plant. Trunk resembles a tree above ground or exists under the earth’s surface. Trunk is woody and made up of tiny packed leaves.

Leaves

Clustered in a terminal crown, 30 - 140 cm long, rhombic (kite-shaped) to wedge-shaped in cross-section, tapering at the ends.

Flowers

Borne as flower clusters on a cylindrical and spike-like woody axis.

In the bush the flowers could reveal directions, since flowers on the warmer, sunnier side (usually north) of the spike often open before the flowers on the cooler side facing away from the sun.

The Honey Bee's head, upper body and legs are black, and its hairy abdomen is striped black and brown (or yellow/orange). It is pale when it first emerges from the nest, but soon develops a darker colouring.

Size

1.2 – 1.6 cm long (Queen bee is slightly longer)

Tree up to 35 m tall. The bark is rough over whole trunk and branches, thick, hard, grooved, black (ironbark).

Leaves

Juvenile leaves petiolate (have a stalk), are opposite for a few pairs then alternate, narrowly to broadly tapering to a point, to 17 cm long and 4 cm wide, more or less discolorous, green or greyish-green or glaucous (covered with a a greyish, bluish, or whitish powder or waxy coating).

Adult leaves petiolate, alternate, lance-head shaped, 9.5 – 22 cm long and 1 – 2 cm wide, concolorous (the lower leaf surface distinctly different in colour from the upper), green or glaucous; reticulation dense with numerous intersectional oil glands.

Flowers

It blooms producing inflorescences with flowers that are white, rarely pink. Keep an eye out for the flower caps that cover developing flowers and may fall on the ground at the end of flowering.

Arboreal (tree-dwelling) marsupial with large furry ears, a prominent black nose and a vestigial tail. Its fur is thick and ash grey or grey-brown on the dorsal side with an off-white/pale yellow underside.

Size

Koalas from Australia’s southern regions are larger than that of their northern counterparts, with head-body length ranging from 72-78cm.

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