Famous for their courtship dancing, brolgas (Grus rubicunda) are impressively large birds like jabirus, but there is a main difference - the two are not related to each other at all. While jabiru is a stork, brolga belongs to the crane family. Here are some photos, and some information about what they eat, when they breed, where they live, and where in Australia you can see these beautiful birds.
Large Wetlands Birds One of the largest of Australian birds, they are up to 140cm-tall grey birds with red head and neck. They are mainly found in wetlands in northern Australia but also inhabit grasslands in inland Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales, where they can be seen walking slowly with head down, picking up seeds, shoots, tubers and insects.
Life-long Pair Bonds They live in life-long pair bonds and are often seen in pairs, but can form large flocks during the dry season in wetlands - the largest recorded flock contained 12,000 birds. Their nests are often mounds of vegetation in wetlands, but on arid land sometimes no more than a few sticks and grass. Female lays two eggs in early spring in south and in early wet season in northern Australia. Both sexes incubate the eggs and perform a broken-wing display when a predator is approaching the nest. Chicks can leave the nest only a few days after hatching, but remain hidden from predators in the vegetation for a while.
Brolga Courtship Dance They are known for their courtship dances, it is really quite a performance with two large graceful birds dancing on the open plains. They shake their wings, bow their heads and throw grass in the air, then step forward and back, leap into the air and float back to the ground. They do dance more often during the breeding season but because dancing also maintains the pair bond, you can see it at any time of the year.
Good Places to See Brolgas They are not rare to see anywhere around wetlands and on the open grasslands in the outback, but some good places to see them are Atherton Tablelands and the Townsville Common in north Queensland, and Mary River National Park in Northern Territory.
NOTE: This website is written in British English, which is the English we use in Australia. You will find words like "traveller", "harbour" and "realise", and they are all correct in the language used in Australia.
