Wild, Weird and Wonderful Australian Birds

One of the largest of Australia's birds is the emu. It's a flightless bird that looks somewhat like an ostrich, though its feathers are brownish-gray and more like fur than feathers. The females are bigger than the males and have bare blue patches on their heads and necks. The emu, like the ostrich, can run very fast, up to 30 miles per hour. After the female lays her eggs in his nest, the male incubates the eggs and cares for the chicks. The emu can grow to nearly seven feet tall.

Another Australian bird is the malleefowl, which is found in southern Australia. It gets its name because it lives in what's called the mallee, or eucalyptus scrub. The malleefowl mates for life and the male builds a nest mound that can be 16 and a half feet wide and five feet high. The female lays her eggs in the mound and leaves them to be incubated by the rotting debris. The malleefowl looks somewhat like a drab pheasant and can grow to about two feet in length.

Of the many parrots that live in Australia, the rainbow lorikeet is probably the most colorful, with its blue head, red and blue striped breast, green body and yellow and scarlet wings. It lives in screeching flocks and feeds on the nectar and pollen of flowering trees. It also eats flowers, seeds, fruit and insects. It's found in northeastern and southern Australia. The galah is a cockatoo that's found over most of Australia. It has beautiful pink cheeks and neck and a body that's a soft, violet-gray color. It also lives in noisy flocks, and is rather a pest on wheat fields. It grows to about 14 inches long.