Brolga
| Brolga | |
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| Brolga (Grus rubicunda) |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Gruiformes |
| Family: | Gruidae |
| Genus: | Grus |
| Species: | G. rubicunda |
| Binomial name | |
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Grus rubicunda (Perry, 1810) |
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| Synonyms | |
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The brolga (Grus rubicunda), formerly known as the native companion, is a bird in the crane family. It has also been given the name Australian crane, a term coined in 1865 by well-known ornithological artist John Gould in his Birds of Australia.
The brolga is a common, gregarious wetland bird species of tropical and south-eastern Australia and New Guinea. It is a tall, upright bird with a small head, long beak, slender neck and long legs. The plumage is mainly grey, with black wing tips, and it has an orange-red band of colour on its head. It is well known for its intricate mating dance. The nest is built of sticks on an island in marshland and usually two eggs are laid. Incubation takes 32 days and the newly hatched young are precocial. The adult diet is mostly plant matter, but invertebrates and small vertebrates are also eaten.
Although the bird is not considered endangered over the majority of its range, populations are showing some decline, especially in southern Australia, and local action plans are being undertaken in some areas. It is the official bird emblem of the state of Queensland.
The brolga is a tall bird with a large beak, long slender neck and stilt-like legs. The sexes are indistinguishable in appearance though the females are usually a little smaller. The adult has a grey-green, skin-covered crown, and the face, cheeks and throat pouch are also featherless and are coral red. Other parts of the head are olive green and clothed in dark bristles. The gular pouch, which is particularly pendulous in adult males, is covered with such dense bristles as to make it appear black. The beak is greyish-green, long and slender, and the iris is yellowish-orange. The ear coverts appear as a grey patch of small feathers surrounded by red naked skin and the body plumage is silvery-grey. The feathers on the back and the wing coverts have pale margins. The primary wing feathers are black and the secondaries grey. The legs and feet are greyish-black. Juveniles lack the red band and have fully feathered heads with dark irises. A fully-grown brolga can reach a height of 0.7 to 1.3 metres (2 ft 4 in to 4 ft 3 in) and has a wingspan of 1.7 to 2.4 metres (5 ft 7 in to 7 ft 10 in). Adult males average slightly less than 7 kilograms (15 lb) with females averaging a little under 6 kilograms (13 lb). The weight can range from 3.7 to 8.7 kilograms (8.2 to 19.2 lb).
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Wikipedia