List of birds of the Torres Strait Islands
Because these islands have not been thoroughly surveyed or regularly monitored by birders, it is very likely that the list underestimates the number of species breeding on or visiting them.
This list's taxonomic treatment (designation and sequence of orders, families and species) and nomenclature (common and scientific names) follow the conventions of The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, 2022 edition.
It was an early and distinctive offshoot of the anseriform family tree, diverging after the screamers and before all other ducks, geese and swans, sometime in the late Cretaceous.
These birds are adapted to an aquatic existence with webbed feet, flattened bills, and feathers that are excellent at shedding water due to an oily coating.
Order: Otidiformes Family: Otididae Bustards are large terrestrial birds mainly associated with dry open country and steppes in the Old World.
Order: Charadriiformes Family: Haematopodidae The oystercatchers are large and noisy plover-like birds, with strong bills used for smashing or prising open molluscs.
They are small to medium-sized birds with compact bodies, short, thick necks and long, usually pointed, wings.
They are identifiable by their huge feet and claws which enable them to walk on floating vegetation in the shallow lakes that are their preferred habitat.
Variation in length of legs and bills enables multiple species to feed in the same habitat, particularly on the coast, without direct competition for food.
Order: Charadriiformes Family: Turnicidae The buttonquail are small, drab, running birds which resemble the true quails.
Terns are a group of generally medium to large seabirds typically with grey or white plumage, often with black markings on the head.
Order: Phaethontiformes Family: Phaethontidae Tropicbirds are slender white birds of tropical oceans, with exceptionally long central tail feathers.
Order: Procellariiformes Family: Procellariidae The procellariids are the main group of medium-sized "true petrels", characterised by united nostrils with medium septum and a long outer functional primary.
Order: Ciconiiformes Family: Ciconiidae Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked, wading birds with long, stout bills.
Order: Suliformes Family: Anhingidae Anhingas or darters are often called "snake-birds" because of their long thin necks, which gives a snake-like appearance when they swim with their bodies submerged.
Members of Ardeidae fly with their necks retracted, unlike other long-necked birds such as storks, ibises and spoonbills.
Order: Strigiformes Family: Strigidae The typical owls are small to large solitary nocturnal birds of prey.
Order: Bucerotiformes Family: Bucerotidae Hornbills are a group of birds whose bill is shaped like a cow's horn, but without a twist, sometimes with a casque on the upper mandible.
[1] Order: Coraciiformes Family: Alcedinidae Kingfishers are medium-sized birds with large heads, long pointed bills, short legs, and stubby tails.
Order: Coraciiformes Family: Coraciidae Rollers resemble crows in size and build, but are more closely related to the kingfishers and bee-eaters.
Old World parrots are found from Africa east across south and southeast Asia and Oceania to Australia and New Zealand.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Pittidae Pittas are medium-sized by passerine standards and are stocky, with fairly long, strong legs, short tails and stout bills.
Depending on the species, the bower ranges from a circle of cleared earth with a small pile of twigs in the center to a complex and highly decorated structure of sticks and leaves.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Machaerirhynchidae The boatbills have affinities to woodswallows and butcherbirds, and are distributed across New Guinea and northern Queensland.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Paradisaeidae The birds-of-paradise are best known for the striking plumage possessed by the males of most species, in particular highly elongated and elaborate feathers extending from the tail, wings or head.
They occupy a wide range of wooded habitats, from subalpine to tropical rainforest, and mangrove swamp to semi-arid scrubland.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Alaudidae Larks are small terrestrial birds with often extravagant songs and display flights.
They are generally very small birds of drab brown or grey appearance found in open country such as grassland or scrub.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Zosteropidae The white-eyes are small and mostly undistinguished, their plumage above being generally some dull colour like greenish-olive, but some species have a white or bright yellow throat, breast or lower parts, and several have buff flanks.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Estrildidae The estrildid finches are small passerine birds of the Old World tropics and Australasia.
