It is one of Australia's best known birds, but experts now agree that the rainbow lorikeet is actually six different species.

Key points: Bird experts have realised there are actually six different species of rainbow lorikeet

Bird experts have realised there are actually six different species of rainbow lorikeet Australia is now home to the rainbow, the coconut and the red-collared lorikeet

Australia is now home to the rainbow, the coconut and the red-collared lorikeet New Guinea and eastern Indonesia now have the scarlet-breasted, the marigold, and the Flores lorikeet

The change has been a long time coming, but editor of Australian BirdLife Magazine, Sean Dooley, said the official lists, or taxonomies, of bird species were all in agreement.

"It's really only in the last couple of years [that] all of the major taxonomies, including the one that BirdLife Australia follows, which is from BirdLife International, have had another look at all of the different populations of rainbow lorikeets in Australia and New Guinea and the Islands to the north," Mr Dooley said.

"They've realised that there are not just two different species, [but] that there are at least six different species, so Australia now has three types of rainbow lorikeets."

Australia's number one bird

Australia has some iconic bird species, from kookaburras to cockatoos, magpies to rosellas, finches to falcons.

But when Australians were asked to record the birds in their backyards, one species ruled them all.

"Through the BirdLife Australia's Aussie Backyard Bird Count each year, [which] we've done for six years now, the rainbow lorikeet has been the number one bird recorded right across the country," Mr Dooley said.

"A lot of people find that fantastic because they're native birds and they're incredibly beautiful.

"However, they're not such a popular bird in Perth or Hobart where they've actually been introduced."

Rainbow lorikeets are mostly loved but there are concerns about their impact where they have been introduced by humans. ( Supplied: Kanyacope )

If you have ever taken the time to watch rainbow lorikeets you will know they are the overbearing, extroverted, somewhat manic and hard-to-bear life of the party.

It is no surprise that they primarily eat sugar in the form of nectar from flowers when you see them rocketing through your garden at 60 kilometres per hour, shrieking raucously.

And it is not just a perception — rainbow lorikeets literally overwhelm other birds.

"The rainbow lorikeet in south-west Western Australia shouldn't be there," Mr Dooley said.

"There is a great concern that the numbers are growing ... and they're actually pushing out some of the local indigenous parrots."

Such is their vigour, rainbow lorikeets will even go head-to-head with some of Australia's worst pest birds.

"In a lot of areas where the common myna (also known as the Indian myna) used to predominate in traditional suburbs in Melbourne and Sydney, when rainbow lorikeets move in they often end up out-bullying those bullies," he said.

No more in the north

There is one force that has pushed back the rainbow lorikeet's dominance of Australia.

The splitting of the species by bird experts has erased the name 'rainbow lorikeet' from the north of Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

"They've officially disappeared from the north, from the Kimberley and the Top End," Mr Dooley said.

The northern bird, like this one in Broome, has now been recognised as a distinct species called the red-collared lorikeet. ( Supplied: Andrew Silcocks/BirdLife Australia )

"All the bird experts recognise it as an entirely different species to the one you get in the rest of Australia."

Instead of rainbow lorikeets, you will now find red-collared lorikeets in this part of Australia.

They have the same effervescent personality and attention-seeking habits, but as they name suggests, their collar is red, not green.

"Some of the early taxonomists in the early 1900s did call it a red-collared lorikeet, and said it was a separate species, and then they were voted down," Mr Dooley said.

"So for almost a century it wasn't regarded as a distinct species.

"It's only been the last few years that pretty much all the major taxonomic bodies and taxonomists in the world have agreed that yes, after looking at all the evidence, they're definitely a distinct species."

What was formerly known as a rainbow lorikeet in Australia's Torres Strait Islands is now called the coconut lorikeet.

"It's very similar to the rainbow lorikeet, but it's a bit darker on the belly, and a bit paler blue on the head," Mr Dooley said.

"The other three species are from populations on islands in Indonesia and New Guinea that have managed to evolve long enough from the original populations."

New Guinea and eastern Indonesia now have the scarlet-breasted lorikeet, the marigold lorikeet, and the Flores lorikeet.

Splitting species

While the rainbow lorikeet has been erased from parts of the country, Mr Dooley admits the change is yet to really catch on with most Australians.

"It might be a long time before it's generally accepted as red-collared, rather than rainbow," he said.

"Rainbow is a bit more imaginative and inspiring, I guess."

The blue-faced honeyeater has also been split into a new species by some experts. ( ABC Open contributor A Wild Eye View )

But that has not stopped bird experts looking at splitting other birds into different species.

"Some of the taxonomy checklists have already split the Top End and Kimberley population out from the eastern Australian blue-faced honeyeater," Mr Dooley said.

"I think they're planning on calling it the white-quilled honeyeater."

Even the Australian magpie is not safe from being split into different species.

"Originally it used to be split into at least three, and one of those is the western magpie found especially in the south-west, around Perth," Mr Dooley said.

"The female of the western magpie in particular, is really different to the females in the rest of Australia, and I have heard people discussing whether that needs to be looked into."

Some experts believe that different populations of magpies are actually different species. ( Supplied: Dee Hartin )

It may seem unnecessarily pedantic and even unpatriotic to be renaming bird species that are part of Australian folklore but Mr Dooley said our increasing understanding of biological diversity and the need to conserve it demanded change.

"You really do need to be able to follow the science and to accurately describe things," he said.

"And in terms of the way we fund conservation and [the way] the public gets behind rare species, then it actually can make a real world difference."