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.

Grey, grey-brown to olive green body with patches of cream. It has black bands running across its body and tail and a "crest" of spines which start on its head and extend down its back and along its tail. Its belly is creamy-white to creamy brown-grey and the larger, breeding males have a red-orange chest and throat. One of two subspecies also has a broad black stripe running from behind its eye to its ear. It has long, powerful legs and a long, strong tail with flattened sides to assist with swimming. There are loose folds of skin under its jaw.

Juveniles are light brown and their head and feet appear large for their body size.

Size

Around 80 - 90 cm long (nose to end of tail) two-thirds of which is tail. Males are bigger than females.

Almost completely black with a rusty-red or chocolate-brown patch at the back of its head and on its neck. Its fur can be tipped with grey, particularly on its belly. It has no fur on its lower legs.

Size

23 – 28 cm head and body length, wingspan over 1 m.

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.

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.

The caterpillar (larva) is initially dark in colour with broad yellow-orange bands running across its body, and two rows of black spines running down its back. Its head is black and smooth. As it matures its body becomes blue-black. Just before becoming a pupa it turns dark green with orange-yellow blotches on its back and some small scattered pale blue-and-white spots. The butterfly (adult) has black wings covered with white-grey patches, and red-and-blue patches on its hindwing. The back edge of its hindwing is scalloped and the tip of its body is yellow.

Size

Caterpillar up to 4 cm long; Butterfly wingspan about 7 cm.

A dark grey to black bird with a yellow-tipped red bill, red frontal shield, red legs, and white undertails. Hatchlings are also black with red frontal shield, juveniles have green legs, green horn or black coloured bill, generally paler.

Size

35-40 cm (from head to tail)

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.

A deciduous tree, usually 12 – 20 m high when planted in parks and gardens but can reach about 40 m high in its natural environment.

Its low, wide-spreading and rounded canopy is usually 10 – 18 m wide. Its trunk is typically short, with ridged dark grey to black bark.

Leaves

Dark green and oval to rectangular in shape with 3 – 7 rounded lobes on either side. They are 7.5 – 12.5 cm long and have a very short stem. They are pale blue-green underneath and turn tan to brown in autumn, before falling from the tree in late winter.

Flowers

Tiny, green to pale yellow, hanging in slim, cylindrical clusters (known as catkins).

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

Its genus name Stenocarpus means narrow fruit, referring to its seed pods; and its species name sinuatus means wavy, referring to the edges of the leaves.

Evergreen tree, up to 35 m high, but much smaller when grown in gardens where it reaches a height of only about 10 m with a width of 5 m.

Leaves

Dark glossy green and paler underneath, they can be oval-shaped, lobed or have wavy edges. They are usually 15 – 25 cm long (but can be up to 45 cm long) and 2 – 5 cm wide, and are generally smaller on exposed branches. There is one distinct vein running down the centre of each leaf.

Flowers

Bright red with a yellow tip, and 2.5 – 4 cm long. They cluster in a wheel-like arrangement at the end of a stalk. The cluster can be up to 10 cm in diameter and consists of 6 - 20 flowers.

Its head and upperparts are mostly dark grey, with a white eyebrow and throat, a narrow grey band across the upper breast and a creamy-buff belly. The feathers of its long tail have white edges and tips, and the tail is often fanned out.

Size

14 – 16 cm long

Dark grey to brown body, with lighter grey fur on its head and golden-orange fur encircling its neck. Its wings are black.

Distinctive feature

Fur on its legs that extends to its ankles.

Size

23 cm to 29 cm head and body length); wingspan over 1 m.

Giant tussock-like, rosette plant. Grows up to 2.5 m high with a flower stalk up to 5 m high!

Its genus name Doryanthes (meaning spear and flower), and its species name excelsa (meaning high), both refer to its tall flower stem.

Leaves

Long, sword-shaped and forming a clump. Each individual leaf is 1 – 2.5 m long and about 10 cm wide. Shorter leaves up to 30 cm long are found along the flower stem.

Flowers

Located at the top of a single flower stem which grows from the centre of the tussock of leaves. The stem is 2 – 5 m high upon which the flowers form a cluster up to 70 cm in diameter. The individual flowers are bright red (or rarely white), trumpet-shaped and 10 – 16 cm long.

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)

Deciduous tree, up to 35 m high, but much smaller when grown in gardens and in cooler areas where it reaches a height of only about 10 m. It can take 5 – 8 years to flower if grown from a seed.

Leaves

Smooth, oval-shaped and can have three or five lobes (and sometimes more). Each leaf is 10 – 30 cm long. The tree loses some or all of its leaves at the end of winter, before flowering, and the leaves turn yellow just before falling.

Flowers

Bright coral-red and bell-shaped, they occur in clusters at the end of branches. They are 1 – 2 cm long and have a waxy surface. They appear after the tree has lost all or some of its leaves.

Deciduous tree, not native to Australia. Grows up to 15 m high and wide.

Leaves

Bright green, feathery and fern-like. Individual leaves are narrow and elliptic, 3 – 12 mm long and arranged either side of a 5 – 10 cm long stem. They turn yellow in autumn before falling from the tree.

Flowers

Blue-purple and trumpet-shaped, forming clusters that are 20 – 30 cm in diameter. Each individual flower is 2 – 3 cm long and about 1 cm wide. They are lightly fragranced and remain on the tree for about 2 months.

There are four stamens inside the flower which produce pollen, and also a staminode which doesn’t produce any pollen.

Deciduous tree, growing to 15 – 30 m high and 15 – 20 m wide. Some of its grey-brown bark peels off to reveal a creamy white inner bark, giving the trunk a mottled appearance.

Leaves

Mid-to-dark green with 3 – 5 lobes and slightly serrated edges. They are 10 – 25 cm across and turn yellow-brown in autumn. The leaf lobes are about as wide as they are long.

Flowers

Red or yellow, in small rounded clusters. The red (female) flowers grow from the newer shoots and the yellow (male) flowers grow from older branches further back toward the trunk.

The caterpillar (larva) is green with a hump on its upper back and small white dots over its body. The butterfly (adult) has brown or black outer wings with some white markings plus two green blotches, and green inner wings (closest to its body). The underside of each wing has the same patterning but the green parts tend to be darker. It has “tails” at the tip of each hindwing.

There are two recognised subspecies Graphium macleayanus macleayanus from Queensland and NSW, and Graphium macleayanus moggana from Tasmania, Victoria and parts of subalpine NSW.

Size

Caterpillar 4 cm long; Butterfly wingspan 5 – 6 cm (can reach up to 8 cm).

A black and white bird, the pattern varies slightly between sexes. The male has a white eyebrow above a black horizontal eye-stripe, a black face and throat, while the female has a white face and throat, with a broad vertical stripe through the eye, and no white eyebrow. Both sexes have a thin white bill and black legs and feet. Juvenile Magpie-larks have a black forehead, white eyebrow and a white throat.

The top of its head and its hindneck are black. Its forehead is covered with bright-yellow skin, which hangs down to form wattles. The rest of the head is white. Its back and wings are pale grey-brown. Below, black plumage extends from the hindneck onto the sides of its breast, and the rest of the underparts are white. Its long legs and feet are reddish and its bill is yellow. It has a prominent spur on each wing.

Juveniles are similar to adults, but have dark ‘scallop’ markings on the back and wings, and the wing spur and wattles are either smaller or absent.

Distinctive feature

A yellow wattle that extends from its forehead to behind its eye and hangs down beside its chin.

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