The pale grey, long-legged Brolga is perhaps the most stately Australian bird. Before starting to dance, Brolgas line up roughly opposite one another. Their wings are half-open and shaking as they step forward on long, stilt-like legs. They advance and retire with bows and bobbles of their heads. Birds will occasionally stop and trumpet wildly by throwing back their heads.
Occasionally, they leap into the air for a few meters before parachuting back to the ground. Grass and twigs are thrown into the air. The birds perform elaborate dances outside the breeding season as part of their courtship display. Dancing may be used as a means of maintaining pair bonds. Family groups of Brolgas will often join other flocks of several hundreds when they are no longer breeding.
The pale grey, long-legged Brolga is perhaps the most stately Australian bird. Before starting to dance, Brolgas line up roughly opposite one another. Photo Credit – Ian Sutton
Wandering widely in search of food, they can reach the Simpson Desert and coastal northern Australia. Birds fly gracefully, up-flicking their wings, with outstretched necks and legs; they flow almost out of sight on thermal air currents. By day, they feed mainly on the tubers of sedges, which they roost in groups on residual surface water at night. With their bills, they can be found up to 15 centimeters underground.
Their diet includes grains, molluscs, insects, and mollusk shells, making them a pest for cereal crops. The wet season brings Brolgas back to their breeding grounds in shallow swamplands, where they nest in pairs. Incubation and care of the young are shared between both sexes, and the young can run and swim within hours of hatching.
A native companion, the Australian crane. Male birds measure 1050-1250 mm in length, while females measure 950-1150 mm. There is no difference between the sexes. The bird has pale grey feathers, with darker primary wing feathers and paler rump feathers. On the rest of the head, there is orange to bright red skin with greenish-gray skin on the crown; grey ear covers; hairy dewlap under the chin; and grey ear covers. Having yellow eyes and a long, straight, green-gray bill.
The feet and legs are dark grey to black in color. Adult birds are similar to immature birds. There is a paler marking on the gray down young; the head is covered with buff down; the eyes are dark brown, and the feet are pink-grey. Only one trumpeting garooo is heard during Brolga’s call.
Duetting pairs call kaweee-kreeekurr-kurr-kurr-kurr-kurr-kurr-kurr. In the south, breeding occurs between September and December, whereas in the north, breeding occurs between February and June. In swampy grasslands or beside them, nests are made of 1.5-meter-diameter platforms of dry grasses or sedges. Two cream eggs with reddish-brown and lavender markings are usually laid; the eggs are oval, tapered, and about 92 x 61 mm in size. There is a 28-30 day incubation period for both sexes.
There are small populations in the Murray-Darling basin, western Victoria, and southern New Guinea, where the bird is found in open swamplands of coastal and sub-coastal tropical Australia. The species is also found in New Zealand, the Coral Sea, and southwest Asia.
