Searching for a bird

There are several ways you can search for a bird on the Nyarima website. There are over 700 different species of birds in Australia so finding the bird you are looking for can be difficult. We have grouped birds in several ways to make the search easier – by bird families (the other birds they might be more closely related to), by the environment you are likely to find them in, by a theme in a First Nations story/lore the bird features in (fire for example), by which birds are commonly seen together and they are also grouped according to which birds might look similar. Depending on which way you search for a bird, your search results might be different. 

Search using the type of country the bird can be found on (Salt, Fresh, Inland) and by general appearance

The primary way you can search for birds is by using the type of environment you could expect to find the bird in (salt water, fresh water or inland on country and generally not by water). Once you have chosen the environment, you will be presented with several groupings of bird families all with an example bird image. The names below the image are the family names that will be shown if you select that image (for example kookaburras belong in the Kingfisher family and the Willie Wagtails belongs in the Fantail family). You select an image whose general appearance looks similar to the bird you are looking for (the image might not be the actual bird you want at this point) or whose family name you recognise under it. If you recognise the family name, this might be a good way to search for you.  Making a selection here will take you to similar looking or related birds for further selection. Each family may have many different types of birds under it. You can continue selecting birds until you find the one you are looking for. Head to the home page to try this out.

Search using stories, lore, connection to country

Another way to search for a bird is by story, lore or connection to country. If you know of a story that has a bird in it but you don’t know the bird name (for example the story might have a yarn about fire in it), you can select the subject you are interested in using the story images icons and you will be presented with a list of birds that have a story contributed about them related to the topic you selected.

You can also just select a story topic, such as fire and then select a bird you want to know about that has a story submitted about that topic. Head to the home page to try this out.

Search using the Search bar or Alphabetic list

If you know the name of the bird, either its first nations name, slang name, common name,  the name of the bird family it belongs to or its scientific name, you can type this in the search bar.

You can also use the alphabetised list of birds on the right hand side of the home page to find the bird you are looking for. The complete list of birds is not available at this stage but we continue to add more daily. Head to the home page to try this out.