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Wednesday, 22 February 2023
Wild Bird Wednesday 552 - White-faced Heron
Wednesday, 15 February 2023
Wild Bird Wednesday 551 - Wedge-tailed Eagle
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Wild Bird Wednesday 550 - Brolga
The Brolga (Grus rubicunda) is one of two species of true Cranes that occur in Australia. (The other species - The Sarus Crane (Grus antigone) - only occurs in parts of Northern Australia)
The Brolga is widespread in northern and eastern Australia - but like many birds that rely on wet and swampy habitats, its range and abundance has declined as development has eaten into our wetlands.
A fully grown brolga can reach a height of 0.7 to 1.4 m and has a wingspan of 1.7 to 2.4 m Adult males have an average body mass of 6.8 kg with females averaging 5.66 kg . The weight can range from 3.6 to 8.7 kg.
In other words, they are an impressively large bird.
These birds were loafing about (rather predictably) at the Werribee Sewage Works - where they are established as a breeding species. After spending some time with the most obvious bird, I noticed a second head popping up through the vegetation about 20 meters away from the first bird.
Apart from a bit of preening and general feather maintenance these birds were not very active - there were many frogs calling in the area and I suspect both birds were waiting for their next meal to hop past!
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Wild Bird Wednesday 549 - Tested Terns
At the end of last year I had the opportunity to help with the banding of Crested Tern (Thalasseus bergii) chicks in a colony on Mud Islands in Pot Philip Bay.
These are the 'default' tern in my part of the world - but it was still wonderfull to see them at their breeding site. It was, to say the least, very noisy!
The aim of the day was to be there when large numbers of the chick were capable of running, but not flying. At this age we were able to pursued the chicks to walk along the beach towards a set of net we had placed on the beach. The nets had a wide entrance which we could close behind the chicks - and once they had been herded into the net we closed the 'gate' on them. The parent birds did not approve of this action and were very vocal their protests!
The chicks were banded and released within a few minutes, and it was wonderful to see how quickly the adults found their chicks. It was advisable to wear a hat during this process as the adult birds would often peck you on the head!
If you ever get a chance to be involved in an activity like this, grasp it with both hands!
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