Wednesday 8 February 2023

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!







As ever to join in with WBW click on the link below.  Cheers  SM

PS: Just noticed that this is the 550th WBW in a row!



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13 comments:

  1. Thank you Stewart. I look forward to our get together every week. Wishing you all the best!

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  2. Hari OM
    Yup, they are impressive! YAM xx

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  3. Happy 505th! Wow. That's a lot of feathers.

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  4. Bolga is very nice! I can only see them in wildlife reserve

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  5. Don't you think it's funny they don't get similar attention to the emu, when they're quite big and interesting? I guess too like other cranes around the world.

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  6. They certainly are massive birds. Maybe they also get lazy when their dinner is only a hop away. Congrats on the milestone. It seems like it was only yesterday when you took over the helm of WBW.

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  7. Those are quite impressive creatures!

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  8. yes I have seen both species in the tablelands and have been on a yearly count of them several years ago. Great photos Stewart. Thanks for hosting and I hope you have a great week ahead

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  9. Congratulations on 550 editiond of WBW. I can remember the first one and it really doesn't seem that long ago.

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  10. Hello Stewart :=)
    The Brolga is a splendid looking bird. Thank you for sharing. Congrats on your 550 WBW post.
    All the best.

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  11. That’s an impressive bird. Also, 550 WBW’s is an impressive number. Thank you for hosting.

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  12. 550?! WOW! That's a lot of birds! Congrats.

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  13. To żuraw, jakiego jeszcze w życiu nie widziałam. Ma sporo wdzięku i przypomina nasze europejskie ptaki. Piękne zdjęcia, gratuluję!

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