Ground Cuckooshrike

The ground cuckoo-shrike (Coracina maxima) is an uncommon bird species endemic to Australia, occurring mainly in open woodland and arid grasslands throughout inland Australia, but also occasionally in areas on the east coast. == Taxonomy == Coracina maxima is one of 81 species in the family Campephagidae, 7 of which occur in Australia. The family can be divided into 2 groups, one of which contains 13 of the 81 species, and occur only in Asia. The other group, which includes genus Coracina (cuckoo-shrikes, cicadabirds and trillers), occurs in Africa, southern and Southeast Asia, Australia and islands in the west Pacific. Occurring in Australia are four species of cuckoo-shrike. The black-faced cuckoo-shrike (Coracina novaehollandiae) is a common species that occurs throughout all of Australia. The white-bellied cuckoo-shrike (Coracina papuensis) is uncommon and only occurring in the northern parts of the Northern Territory, as well as most of Queensland, Victoria and eastern New South Wales. The barred cuckoo-shrike (Coracina lineata) is a rare species and only occurs along the east coast of Queensland, and parts of the NSW coast. These three cuckoo-shrikes all occur in other countries including Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. The ground cuckoo-shrike is an uncommon…