Newcastle calling

Hi there. I'm from Mt Hutton (suburb of Newcastle) and fairly new to birds. At the beginning of the year I got a Canon 400D digi SLR and since then have been clicking up a storm around anything that would stay still long enough (and quite often things that insist on moving too) So naturally the birds that frequent ours and neighbouring yards are fair game. Once I started taking more notice of the different birds, I realised how many of them I just don't know anything about, including basic things like what they are. So in my search to identify a few birds - mainly the noisy Lapwing that insists on sitting on the garage roof next door and screeching away all evening, I found Birds in Backyards. Quite happy, I bookmarked the site and have been back frequently.
A few days ago, I was talking over the fence to our back neighbours and the lady of the house mentioned that she had a book that she thought I might like to look through. She has seen me out in the backyard with the camera, sitting waiting for a bird to come by. So the book is a rather large, heavy older copy of The Birds of Australia.
Well I have been looking through it and am just amazed at how many birds we have here in Au.
I now have a keener interest in snapping (and identifying) more birds.
Roll on the warmer weather when hubby and I often go out for walks with the camera. mmm, think I need a more lightweight copy of that book that I can keep in the camera bag!