Fauna of Australia group of endemic parrots, order Psittaciformes. Australian parrots comprise a sixth of the world's parrots, including many cockatoos and galahs. The kookaburra is the largest species of the kingfisher family, known for its call, which sounds uncannily like loud, echoing human laughter. The passerines of Australia, also known as songbirds or perching birds, include wrens, robins, the magpie group, thornbills, pardalotes, the huge honeyeater family, treecreepers, lyrebirds, birds of paradise and bowerbirds. The satin bowerbird has attracted the interest of evolutionary psychologists; it has a complex courtship ritual in which the male creates a bower filled with blue, shiny items
The Australian Bird Guide Scientific Industrial Research Organisation). The Guide provides detailed maps indicating where a species or sub-species are likely to occur and shading to help identify where the birds are most likely to occur. Several of the reviewers highlighted this feature as a major positive of the guide and the "10,000 Bird" review considered the 2 field guides with this feature the best available. The Foreword to "The Australian Bird Guide" was written by Paul Sullivan, Chief Executive of Birdlife Australia, Australia’s peak ornithological body. This foreword states that the authors and artists of this book are considered leaders in their field