Brolga
Brolga
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COMMON NAME: |
Brolga |
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LATIN NAME: |
Grus rubicunda |
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FOOD: |
Brolgas eat grass, roots, insects, frogs, and lizards |
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HABITAT: |
Fresh water swampy grasslands |
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LOCALITY: |
North-east Queensland, and are not uncommon as far south as Victoria and southern Western Australia. They are also found in southern New Guinea. |
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WING SPAN: |
1.7 – 2.4 metres |
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BEHAVIOUR: |
Brolgas usually live in a basic social unit which consists of is a pair or small family group of about 4 birds, usually parents together with juvenile offspring, though some such groups appear to be unrelated. In the non-breeding season, they gather into large flocks, which appear to be many self-contained individual groups rather than a single social unit. Within the flock, families tend to remain separate and to coordinate their activities with one another rather than with the flock as a whole. In the breeding season, which is largely determined by rainfall rather than the time of year, the flocks split up and pairs establish nesting territories in wetlands. In good habitat, nests can be quite close together. |
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DEVELOPMENT: |
Brolgas nest in a raised mound of sticks, uprooted grass: on a small island, standing in shallow water, or occasionally floating. If no grasses are available, mud or roots unearthed from marsh beds are employed. Sometimes they make barely any nest at all, take over a disused swan nest, or simply lay on bare ground. Pairs of Brolga eggs are most common, but sometimes the clutch is one or three, laid about two days apart. Both birds incubate and guard the young. Hatching is not synchronised, and takes about 30 days. The chicks hatch covered in grey down and weighing about 100 g. They can leave the nest within a day or two, have body feathers within 4 or 5 weeks, and are fully feathered after three months, and able to fly about two weeks after that. When threatened, chicks hide and stay quiet while the parents perform a broken-wing display. The parents continue to guard the young for up to 11 months, or almost two years if they do not re-nest. |
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DESCRIPTION: |
The full-grown Brolga is a tall, mid-grey to silver-grey crane, 0.7 to 1.3m high, with a wingspan of 1.7 t o 2.4 m, and a broad red band extending from the straight, bone-coloured bill around the back of the head. Juveniles lack the red band. Adult males weigh a little under |
