The Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds, known as HANZAB, is the pre-eminent scientific reference on Birds in the region, which includes Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, Antarctica, and the surrounding ocean

Southern Ocean

The Southern Ocean comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60°S latitude and encircling Antarctica. It is usually regarded as the fourth-largest of the five principal oceanic divisions...

 and islands. It attempts to collate all that is known about each of the 957 species recorded (list).

HANZAB is the largest project ever undertaken by the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union

Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union

The Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union, also known as Birds Australia, was founded in 1901 to promote the study and conservation of the native bird species of Australia and adjacent regions. This makes it Australia's oldest national birding association. It is also Australia's largest...

 (RAOU), also known as Birds Australia. It was prepared over 20 years by teams of full and part-time writers, editors and artists, and published by Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...

in seven volumes between 1990 and 2006 (volumes 1 and 7 each in two parts).

Contents of each Volume

1. Ratites to Ducks (in two parts) (1990)
2. Raptors to Lapwings (1993)
3. Snipe to Pigeons (1996)
4. Parrots to Dollarbird (1999)
5. Tyrant-flycatchers to Chats (2001)
6. Pardalotes to Shrike-thrushes (2002)
7. Boatbill to Starlings (in two parts) (2006)