Brolga

It’s been a long time since I’ve taken photographs of Brolga that are good enough to share with you – this week I hardly knew which ones to choose.

Earlier this week I visited the Western Treatment Plant, affectionately known as the Poo Paddocks, just west of Melbourne. It was registered as an internationally significant Ramsar wetland in 1983 and over 300 bird species have now been recorded at the site.

It was a very quiet day both bird-wise and people-wise but luckily I visit the Western Lagoons and the T-Section before the sun sets and I head home. I’d heard there were a few Brolga at the WTP but never expect to see a particular species so you can imagine how thrilled I was to pull up beside two Brolgas as they foraged. These Endangered birds were amazing to watch. Most of today’s photographs filled the entire frame.

It was crazy to see how long the Brolgas could keep their heads submerged in mud and water. You can see how far under it went by the level of mud on its neck. Brolgas are omnivores, eating mainly tubers but also invertebrates, amphibians and the occasional small mammal.

Brolgas are believed to mate for life and the only easily visible difference between males and females is their size, with females being slightly shorter. I stayed in my vehicle to watch them as I didn’t want to risk disturbing them.

I cropped this Brolga, the female, from the preceding photograph as I think it looks pretty amazing. She is easily identifiable as a Brolga because of the flash of red on her head, plus I like the watery setting (rather than mud), the ripples, and the mud that she hasn’t yet washed from her neck.

The light was constantly changing as the sun was setting but also because of intermittent cloud cover – photographers might have noticed the changes in my camera settings. For non-photographers 1/1600 relates to the speed of the shutter, in this case 1/1600 of a second. F/6.3 relates to the size of the aperture, the wider open it is (the lower the number) the more light that reaches the sensor and the narrower the depth of field. The ISO relates to how sensitive the sensor is to light – all important things to consider when taking bird photographs. The wind picked up and ruffled the Brolga’s feathers which is why I’m including this shot and the following one.

They don’t look as graceful as usual in foraging shots like this but it was pretty funny to watch, and lovely that they were totally relaxed with me watching them.

This portrait shows the magnificence of the species as the Brolga gazes across the water at its mate. They are large birds, standing over 1 metre tall.

I cropped these details from the preceding shot as this portrait clearly shows its sturdy two-tone bill, its featherless red head and grey crown, its bright yellow iris and even the texture of the black dewlap that hangs beneath its chin.

Happy birding, Kim

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