List of birds of Tasmania

For birds found on Macquarie Island, which is administered by the Tasmanian Government, see Birds of Macquarie Island.

The yellow wattlebird is Australia's largest honeyeater and an endemic Tasmanian species.

A total of 383 species of bird have been recorded living in the wild on the island of Tasmania, nearby islands and islands in Bass Strait. Birds of Macquarie Island are not included in this list. Twelve species are endemic to the island of Tasmania, and most of these are common and widespread.[1] However, the forty-spotted pardalote is rare and restricted, while the island's two breeding endemic species, the world's only migratory parrots, are both threatened.[2] 22 species are introduced, and 30 species are globally threatened.

Several species of penguin are late summer visitors to Tasmanian shores.[1] Tasmania's endemic birds have led to it being classified as an Endemic Bird Area (EBA), one of 218 such areas worldwide.[3] Priority regions for habitat-based conservation of birds around the world, they are defined by containing two or more restricted-range (endemic) species.[4]

Although Tasmania has been isolated from the Australian mainland for about 10,000 years, islands in the Bass Strait between the two landmasses have allowed many species to traverse. With around 5,400 km (3,400 mi) of coastline and 350 offshore islands, Tasmania provides a diverse haven for birds despite its relatively small size. Birds are abundant in Tasmanian wetlands and waterways, and ten of these habitats are internationally important and protected under the Ramsar Convention. Many migratory birds make use of the bays, mudflats and beaches for feeding, including the threatened hooded plover and little tern, both of which breed along the coast. The near-coastal button grass grasslands of the southwest, harbour the breeding grounds of the critically endangered orange-bellied parrot. Many of the rarer species dwell in Tasmania's eucalyptus (sclerophyll) forest or rainforest, which cover much of the island.[5]

The common and scientific names and taxonomic arrangement follow the conventions laid out in the 2008 publication Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds.[6] Supplemental updates follow The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, 2022 edition.[7]

This list uses British English throughout. Any bird names or other wording follows that convention. Unless otherwise noted, all species listed below are considered to occur, or have occurred since European settlement in the case of extinct species, regularly in Tasmania as permanent residents, summer or winter visitors, or migrants. The following codes denote certain categories of species:


  1. ^ a b "Tasmania". Birds Australia website. Birds Australia. Archived from the original on 20 June 2010. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
  2. ^ Dooley, Sean (11 May 2010). "World's only migratory parrots in peril". Australian Geographic. Archived from the original on 15 May 2010. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
  3. ^ "BirdLife EBA Factsheet 185: Tasmania". BirdLife's online World Bird Database: the site for bird conservation. Cambridge, UK: BirdLife International. 2003. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
  4. ^ "Endemic Bird Areas". BirdLife's online World Bird Database: the site for bird conservation. Cambridge, UK: BirdLife International. 2003. Archived from the original on 7 July 2010. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
  5. ^ Watts, Dave (2006) [1999]. Field Guide to Tasmanian Birds (2nd ed.). Frenchs Forest, NSW: New Holland Press. pp. vi–viii. ISBN 1-876334-60-6.
  6. ^ Christidis, Leslie; Boles, Walter (1994). The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union. ISBN 978-1-875122-06-6.
  7. ^ Lepage, Denis. "Checklist of Birds of Tasmania". Bird Checklists of the World. Avibase. Retrieved 16 August 2021.