What’s that? Australian Birds by Myke Mollard

Just one of a clutch of books about the Australian environment: birds, reptiles, mammals and frogs, What’s that? is a welcome addition to books about our landscape and what lives here.

Woodlane Press produces field guides and books for travellers, books about facets of our environment, books for cyclists and family adventures, all produced with stunning photos and illustrations. All of their books encourage families, groups and individuals to explore, understand and value the land on which they travel.

Australian birds is stunningly illustrated, with images almost filling each of the  pages, with paragraphs of information arranged around the animal in question.

At the beginning is an explanation of the term bird, then they are divided into three groups, each with its own band of colour.  There are native and endemic birds, migratory and vagrant birds, and introduced species.

Page 13 for example introduces the reader to the Australian magpie. A strip of colour on one side of the page shows that this bird belongs to the native and endemic bird group. At the top of the page is a map of Australia showing where this bird can be found, and images of the bird in flight. A fact box tell us that this bird was named Australian Bird of the Year in 2023, and is sometimes aggressive during breeding season. Their beautiful morning call is called caroling, and is sung mainly to mark out its territory, and they walk over lawns and grassy areas in search of worms.

Each other page is similarly presented, giving snippets of facts that kids will find absorbing, and the map and images will make it easier for readers to go out and look for examples of that bird.

There are some lovely pages for kids to explore: bush turkeys, apostle birds, bower birds, zebra finches to name a few.

Themes: Australian birds, Birds.

Fran Knight