WEBSITES

https://ebird.org/australia/home
This webpage operates as the Australian portal for eBird. eBird is among the world’s largest biodiversity-related science projects, with more than 100 million bird sightings contributed each year by eBirders around the world. A collaborative enterprise with hundreds of partner organizations, thousands of regional experts, and hundreds of thousands of users, eBird is managed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and once signed up to it gives you free access to the data. It is particularly useful for researching what birds are found where and when.

eBird Australia additionally offers recent news on the ornithological front, easy access to bird lists entered for sites within Australia and links to Birdline pages ( rare bird alerts) all around Australia. http://www.eremaea.com is the link to Eremaea Birdlines, the national webpage for reporting rare or unusual birds outside their normal range, unusually high or low numbers, early or late arrivals or departures for migrant species and interesting behaviour or unusual habitat usage. Once there click on the link for Birdline Victoria to reach the Victorian page, which is updated daily and is the go to site for twitchers in Victoria.  The link http://ebird.org/ebird/australia/subnational1/AU-VIC/activity?yr=all&m= 
takes you directly to the most recent lists entered for Victoria by ebird users, useful if you want to see what you may currently find at a particular site. NOTE: There is an option on eBird in Australia to select a 20 minute 2 hectare survey option meaning that it’s possible to take advantage of eBird’s usability at the same time as contributing to Birdlife Australia’s citizen science project called BIRDATA  

http://birdlife.org.au/

The home page of Birdlife Australia, which is the peak body for all things birds and conservation downunder. BirdLife Australia was created in 2012 from the merger of Birds Australia and Bird Observation & Conservation Australia (BOCA). BirdLife Australia is dedicated to achieving outstanding conservation results for our native birds and their habitats and began in 1901 well over 100 years ago. 

http://birdlife.org.au/projects/atlas-and-birdata  
Birdlife Australia has an atlas project called BIRDATA to which anyone can contribute bird surveys. This link takes you to the page where you can subscribe to become an atlasser. Whether you are just visiting or a resident of Australia, all contributions will add to the vast amount of data already downloaded, and bird lists and distribution maps are freely availalbe on the site..  
Once you have registered, you log in at http://birdata.com.au/homecontent.do  to upload your bird lists which will help conservation activities within Australia. BIRDATA now has a mobile app for more convenient entering of data in the field eBird data does find its way to Birdata eventually. BIRDATA encourages 20 minute 2 hectare standardised survey techniques so that the information has a higher level of scientific rigour.

There is an option on eBird in Australia to select a 20 minute 2 hectare survey option meaning that it’s possible to take advantage of eBird’s usability at the same time as contributing to Birdlife Australia’s citizen science project called BIRDATA  

http://www.birdlife.org.au/who-we-are/branches-and-locations/victoria
This link from the Birdlife Australia website takes you directly to the list of Birdlife’s regional groups in Victoria. Each regional group is run by volunteers, and clicking on a groups link will take you to further information about birds and birding in that particular area. This includes details of meetings and outings that are open to all, contact details of locals as well as in some cases downloadable brochures on birding sites in the region, all put together by the local birdos. A valuable resource indeed.   

https://www.bestbinocularsreviews.com/ Advice on which binoculars to buy can be found at this extensive website

https://vorac.net/

The Victorian Ornithological Records Appraisal Committee (VORAC) was established in 2017 as part of BirdLife Victoria. The committee acts as the curator of the Official Victorian Bird list and seeks to assess and archive records of State significance. Rare state bird sightings are listed plus annual reports and there is a page for the top listers in the state “the 400 club”


http://parkweb.vic.gov.au/  
This is the Parks Victoria homepage and provides a huge amount of information on public land in Victoria. When visiting any park or reserve it is well worth checking here first, especially as fires, floods, days of total fire ban and road conditions may affect your visit. 
In recent times they have removed the downloadable maps from their website. To access the great park maps they’ve developed its now through the Avenza Maps APP. They are free, and have the advantage on a smartphone that they show your current location if GPS is turned on. 

https://www.vewh.vic.gov.au/news-and-publications/seasonal-watering-statements The Victorian Environmental Water Holder is the government’s allocation of river water that it can use to manage waterways and fill wetlands for environmental outcomes. Across the state many of the best wetlands for birding are those receiving water in this way. The watering statements are useful for finding out which wetlands across the state are going to receive water in the coming season. Other wetlands may be in their drying phase currently following watering the previous year, so not receiving more water but still worth visiting before they dry up completely.

https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/ VICFLORA is a comprehensive and current guide to the wild plants of Victoria. With plant profiles, identification tools and richly illustrated, the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria provides this resource free-of-charge for land managers, scientists, students and indeed anyone with an interest in Victorian plants.

www.birding-aus.org

Birding-Aus is a popular web forum for discussions around birds and birding in Australia.  The home page gives you some background, a link to the latest posts, and how to subscribe. If you don’t want to receive every email, there is a very useful archive with a well-functioning search engine which will quickly tell you where to find a Carpentarian Grasswren, how to get a key to a sewage farm in the middle of nowhere, and the focal length of the latest Canon lens, plus everything in between. Find the archive at
http://bioacoustics.cse.unsw.edu.au/birding-aus/

www.ausbird.com

One of the most comprehensive directories of Australian birding including tour guides around the country

https://www.ala.org.au/

The Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) is a collaborative, digital, open infrastructure that pulls together Australian biodiversity data from multiple sources, making it accessible and reusable.

The ALA helps to create a more detailed picture of Australia’s biodiversity for scientists, policy makers, environmental planners and land managers, industry and the general public, and enables them to work more efficiently. Access is free and it is a labyrinth that you can get lost in for hours of exploration

https://www.inaturalist.org/ iNaturalist is a joint initiative of the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society. A Community for Naturalists, its functionality is second to none as a place to record natural organisms from fungi to plants, birds , frogs, insects you name it. Connects interested beginners with experts in their field who may provide identification from photographs. With already nearly 1.5 million users and nearly 50 million observations, this site is already extremely popular and will only continue to grow

http://www.tonypalliser.com/

This privately managed webpage is the place where Australia’s top birders post their life list totals.

It also has available for download 1. the most up to date Australian Checklist using IOC taxonomy including every vagrant recorded (950 plus species) and 2. Birdlife Australia’s complete bird list for Australia which includes every taxon to subspecies level (with English names assigned to subspecies)

https://www.xeno-canto.org/collection/area/australia

Xeno Canto is a website for sharing bird sounds from around the world. Most Australian species are represented with a variety of calls which are easily searched and played online Xeno-canto uses the ever evolving possibilities of the internet to popularise bird sound recording worldwide,improve accessibility of bird sounds & increase knowledge of bird sounds. The recordings are available for enjoyment, education, conservation & science.

FACEBOOK

There are numerous facebook pages dedicated to birds including:

BOOKS

Specialist suppliers in Melbourne for natural history books include:


Useful bird finding guides include:

Where to See Birds in Victoria

  • ISBN: 9781741757361

  • Edited by Tim Dolby, Penny Johns and Sally Symonds

The Complete Guide to Finding the Birds of Australia

  • Second Edition

  • Richard Thomas, Sarah Thomas, David Andrew

  • ISBN: 9780643097858

Finding Australian Birds

  • A Field Guide to Birding Locations

  • Tim Dolby Rohan Clarke

  • ISBN: 9780643097667

Wildlife of the Box-Ironbark Country

  • Chris Tzaros Birds Australia

  • ISBN: 9781486313150

The most used field guides are as follows:

The Australian Bird Guide

  • Menkhorst Rogers Clarke Davies Marsack and Franklin

  • CSIRO Publishing ISBN 9780643097544

  • First published in 2017 the most detailed and up to date guide - essential for the serious birder.

The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia

  • Ninth Edition An old favourite of many with great illustrations

  • Graham Pizzey Frank Knight

  • ISBN: 9780732291938

The Slater Field Guide to Australian Birds

  • Second Edition Genuinely pocket sized

  • Peter Slater Pat Slater Raoul Slater

  • ISBN: 9781877069635

Field Guide to Australian Birds

  • Revised Edition - text and background information very good

  • Michael Morcombe

  • ISBN:9781740214179

Field Guide to the Birds of Australia

  • Eighth Edition An easy to use guide - excellent for beginners

  • Nicholas Day Ken Simpson

  • ISBN: 9780670072316

Backyard Birdwatching by Ron Smith and Bob Winters

By Wilkinson Publishing ISBN 9781925927672 This is a really great beginners guide for children to get them noticing the birds around them,. Clearly written by experienced birders it provides excellent tips for anyone on how to get started plus photos and descriptions of the commonest backyard birds here in Australia

MOBILE APPS

Two Birding Apps are now available for mobile devices, both of which include a comprehensive collection of bird calls
The first to arrive on the market was:

Morcombe’s Birds of Australia

More recently a second field guide has been offered as an app:

Pizzey and Knight Birds of Australia Digital Edition

  • Gibbon Multimedia Aus Pty Ltd

  • which is also now available for iphone and android.

Field Guide to Victorian Fauna

Museums Victoria’s free Field Guide app is available for both Apple and Android devices and holds descriptions of over 950 species, including birds, mammals, fishes, reptiles, frogs and invertebrates from terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments.The app combines detailed animal descriptions with stunning imagery, as well as animal calls, distribution maps, conservation status, butterfly flight times, frog calling times and depth information for marine species. It includes just a fraction of the complete fauna of Victoria but is being added to with additional species and refined descriptions on an ongoing basis.

iNaturalist

iNaturalist is a joint initiative of the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society. A Community for Naturalists, its functionality is second to none as a place to record natural organisms from fungi to plants, birds , frogs, insects you name it. Connects interested beginners with experts in their field who may provide identification from photographs. With already nearly 1.5 million users and nearly 50 million observations, this site will only continue to grow

The Australian Museum’s FROG ID app

This app is invaluable when out in the field. Frog calls can be recorded and then submitted where they are added to an ever growing database.