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Northern Territory

This page lists books about birds and birdwatching in the Australian territory of Northern Territory.

The books are arranged by publication date with the most recent at the top.


Australia

For bird books that cover all or a large part of Australia see:

Australia

 

Birds & Animals of Australia's Top End: Darwin, Kakadu, Katherine, and Kununurra

Nick Leseberg, Iain Campbell

Wildlife Explorer Guides

Princeton University Press

2015

"With this lavishly illustrated photographic field guide, you will be able to identify the most common creatures and learn about their fascinating biology – from how Agile Wallaby mothers can pause their pregnancies to why Giant Frogs spend half the year buried underground in waterproof cocoons. The Top End stretches from the tropical city of Darwin in the north, to the savannas of Mataranka in the south, and southwest across the vast Victoria River escarpments to the Western Australian border. The region includes some of Australia's most popular and impressive tourist destinations, such as Kakadu, Litchfield, Nitmiluk, and Gregory national parks, and is visited by more than two hundred thousand tourists every year. An essential field guide for anyone visiting the Top End, Birds and Animals of Australia's Top End will vastly enhance your appreciation of the region's remarkable wildlife."

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Birds of the Darwin Region

Niven McCrie and Richard Noske

CSIRO

2015

"This book presents the first comprehensive treatment of the avifauna of Darwin, in Australia's Northern Territory. Darwin has retained all of its original habitats in near-pristine condition, and is home or host to 323 bird species. Following an introduction to the history of ornithology in the region and a detailed appraisal of its avifauna, species accounts describe the habitats, relative abundance, behaviour, ecology and breeding season of 258 regularly occurring species, and 65 species considered as vagrants to the region. Colour photographs, distribution maps and charts of the seasonality of each species are presented, based on a data-set comprising almost 120,000 records, one-third of which were contributed by the authors."

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Regional Field Guide to Birds: Red Centre To Top End

Graham Pizzey and Frank Knight

Harper Collins Australia

Pocket Edition

2013

"The Pizzey and Knight regional birding guides are easy to use, handy and portable field guides for beginner and experienced birdwatchers alike. Designed to complement Australia's best-selling The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia, now in its 9th edition, each regional guide includes every bird found within the region, organized by the environments they are most likely to be seen in, and all beautifully illustrated by Frank Knight. Concise text highlights the key features of every species and an illustrated index helps to find your bird quickly. Accompanied by an introduction to the region's habitats, these guides are an essential companion for anyone out in the field and wanting to become more familiar with Australia's natural world. Regional Field Guide to Birds: Red Centre to the Top End covers all of the Northern Territory and adjacent seas. The book is also relevant to areas immediately adjacent to the Northern Territory in Western Australia such as the Kunnanurra region which is a key visitor destination, and national parks along the border in Queensland."

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Birds of Palmerston in Australia's Top End

Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow with Michael Stott

Scrubfowl Press

2012

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Life in the Cape York Rainforest

Robert Heinsohn and Michael Cermak

CSIRO

2008

"The remote, beautiful and poorly known rainforests of Cape York Peninsula tell a special story about Australia's historic and present-day connections to New Guinea. This book highlights the connections by examining the fascinating biology of some of the most spectacular birds and other animals shared between the two regions.The author recounts his own ground-breaking research on 'cross-dressing' eclectus parrots, musical palm cockatoos and multi-coloured pythons, together with the exotic lifestyles of other animals, while painting the bigger picture of the past when Australia and New Guinea were joined by extensive landbridges.Australia's disconnection from New Guinea is probably only temporary, and even today many bird species continue to fly the short distance between the two landmasses."

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Lost From Our Landscape: Threatened Species of the Northern Territory

Editor: John Woinarski

NRETA

2007

"Provides comprehensive information on the Northern Territory's threatened plant and animals species. For each of the 203 species that have been included, a full dossier has been provided - the result of extensive work by researchers from the Northern Territory Department of Natural Resources, Environment and The Arts. Each dossier provides a description of the species, its conservation status (in the Territory and Australia), its distribution, ecology, the threatening processes and conservation objectives."

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Birds at the Top Downunder

Annemarie Renaud

First Edition Ltd

2007

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Finding Birds in Darwin, Kakadu and the Top End: Northern Territory Australia

Niven McCrie and James Watson

NT Birding

2006

A guide to birdwatching sites plus an annotated checklist.

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Birds Of Australia's Top End

Denise Goodfellow

New Holland Publishers

2005

"A field guide for residents and visitors to the Top End of Australia. This book is well regarded in the Top End where it serves as the most comprehensive bird book. It also has international appeal to those seeking to visit this part of Australia where the wildlife really is still wild. This second edition builds on the first which, besides acting as an invaluable identification guide, also passes on snippets of fascinating Aboriginal information in regard to the birds and the landscape. There has been considerable updating of information throughout the book for this new edition."

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The Distribution And Status Of Shorebirds Around The Coast And Coastal Wetlands Of The Northern Territory

Ray Chatto

Technical Report 73

Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory

2003

From the executive summary: "This is the third report in a series documenting the location and status of selected faunal assemblages on the Northern Territory coastline, offshore islands and Top End wetlands. Previous reports in the series considered waterbird and seabird breeding co lonies. This report briefly summarises the status and distribution of selected migratory and resident shorebirds in this large area. More detailed papers on species and areas will be written at a later date. Prior to 1990 little information existed on the distribution and abundance of shorebirds around the Northern Territory coast and adjacent wetlands. Information gathered during my aerial and ground surveys between 1990 and 2001 has now clearly shown that the coast and coastal wetlands of the Northern Territory have globally significant numbers of many species of shorebirds."

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The Birds of Groote Eylandt

Richard Noske and Graham Brennan

Northern Territory University Press

2002

"Groote Eylandt is Australia's fourth largest island, nestled in the Gulf of Carpentaria, some 45 kilometres from the coast of Arnhem Land in the remote tropical north of Australia. Arguably the most pristine island off the Northern Territory coast, Groote Eylandt is a refuge for birds and other wildlife from the introduced livestock and predators, and frequent fires that have so altered the natural environment of the mainland. The authors have combined thorough research with extensive fieldwork to produce a comprehensive reference describing the relative abundance, habitats and regional distribution of each of the 228 bird species that have been reported for the island over 80 years of visitation by ornithologists."

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Birds of the Red Centre

Malcolm Arnold

Barker Souvenirs

1999

50 page guide with colour illustrations.

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Finding Birds in Australia's Northern Territory

D. Donato, P. Wilkins, G. Smith and L. Alford

CSIRO

1997

"Birds are a prominent feature of the Northern Territory environment, with almost half of Australia's bird species found there in landscapes ranging from deserts to tropics. This is a guide to the Northern Territory's best birdwatching areas. It is designed to be used in conjunction with one of the Australian field identification guides. The book has four main sections: habitats; areas; special birds; and a checklist. The text does not discuss every bird likely to be found in every area, instead it points out interesting species found at each site. In addition, the guide provides information on access, accommodation and camping in the area. It contains detailed information on 69 of the Territory's rare, endemic and other special birds and gives scientific and common names for Australian birds."

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Birds of the Top End

Malcolm Arnold

1997

50 page guide with colour illustrations. Sections include: Mangrove, Rainforest, Woodlands, Open Grassland, Birds of Prey, and Wetlands.

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Birds Of Darwin Mangroves And Mudflats

Denise Goodfellow

1996

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Common Birds of the Darwin Area

Hilary Thompson and Denise Goodfellow

Sandpiper Productions

1987

Includes 16 colour plates featuring 84 species.

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A Bird Checklist For Central Australia

Conservation Commission of the Northern Territory

1985

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Revised List of Northern Territory Birds

G.M. Storr

Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement No. 16

Western Australian Museum

1984

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Birds Of The Northern Territory

G.M. Storr

Special Publication No. 7

Western Australian Museum

1977

"1967 I brought out a List of Northern Territory Birds (Spec. Publs West. Aust. Mus. No. 4) which summarised our knowledge of distribution, relative abundance, habitat preferences, movements and breeding season. That paper was quickly rendered obsolete by a decade of intensive field work, notably by the Harold Hall Expedition to Arnhem Land etc., S.A. Parker and associates in Central Australia, D.N. Crawford and other CSIRO personnel in the far north, Julian Ford and colleagues in the far southwest, and W.H. Butler (on behalf of. the American Museum of Natural History) on Ellery Creek, the Roper and the Daly, and in the Pinkerton Range. The present paper is based on published research and unpublished data kindly provided by several people, among whom I especially mention Mesdames H.B. Gill and J.C. Serventy and Messrs S.A. Parker, W.H. Butler, J.R. Ford, R.E. Johnstone, L.A. Smith, J. Dell, D. Howe and C. Boekel."

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Birds Of New Guinea And Tropical Australia

William S. peckover and L.W.C. Filewood

A.H. and A.W. Reed

1976

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List Of Northern Territory Birds

G.M. Storr

Special Publication No. 4

Western Australian Museum

1966

"It has long been the desire of ornithologists to have a list of Australian birds with their known range set out with considerably more precision than in current checklists. Yet it is hard to see how such a list can be compiled until each of the states and territories has a list of its own. Several state lists have appeared in the last two decades, and the only large gaps remaining are the birds of Queensland and the Northern Territory. In choosing the second as my subject, I have undertaken much the lighter task; for the avifauna of the Territory is impoverished compared to Queensland's, and its literature is far smaller."

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Last updated August 2017