General News
6 September, 2024
Barry's Corner
The birds are singing, the flowers are blooming, the magpies are swooping, lizards are moving, the wind is blowing, the days are getting warmer, orchids are popping up, cats are eating the little birds joeys are making pouches bulge as they grow and the brolgas are finding less water to enable nesting.
While there have been some districts with fair rains, many of the wetlands are holding little or no water and this impacts on the ability of birds to build nests.
Swans and ducks have to make do with less water.
Brolgas are a large member of the crane family that nests in shallow water by scraping together reeds, leaves and grass.
It is a fairly torrid nest but serves the purpose.
Nesting on deeper water makes them a bit safer from feral foxes and cats.
These are the dancing birds with courtship displays using the wings as part of a wonderful prancing/ flouncing routine.
Brolgas come and go with the season but they have greater numbers in northern Australia.
It is not uncommon to have a brolga feeding in a grassy paddock, seemingly a long way from water, as it searches out food.
The birds fly off in the late evening to spend the night in a wetland and return to the feeding areas the next morning.
A brolga is a tall graceful bird with a straight beak and a striking red head, while the body feathers are a pale grey.
A brolga in the air makes a distinctive honking as it flies.
There is no competition for food types because swans are predominantly grass-eaters while brolgas catch grasshoppers, small fish and frogs.
Swans and grebes will also build a nest that floats on water while ducks prefer a good hollow tree.
Getting the fledglings onto the ground seems impossible but the little ones simply flutter down in a sort of controlled fashion, then it is a long, dangerous journey to find a suitable water body.
To have no water might mean no breeding for that season, or enough late rains could activate a nesting.