From Opus

Photo by bigbadja
Karumba, north-western Queensland, Australia

Grus rubicunda

Grus rubicundus

[edit] Identification

70-130cm

• Grey upper and underparts
• Featherless red head
• Grey crown
• Broad red band around back of head
• Bone bill
• Black chin wattle
• Grey legs
  

Juvenile
Photo by tcollins
Fogg Dam, Northern Territory, Australia, October 2007

Juvenile lacks red band

[edit] Distribution

Northern and eastern Australia and Trans-Fly of southern New Guinea

[edit] Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species^[1].

[edit] Habitat

Marshlands, lagoons, floodplains, grassland and dry bushland.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Diet

The diet includes wetland plants, insects, invertebrates and small vertebrates such as frogs.

[edit] Breeding

Both sexes build a raised mound of sticks, grass and plant material, in shallow water on an island. The 2 dull white eggs have reddish brown splotches and are incubated by both parents for about 30 days.

[edit] References

Photo by RMD
Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia, May 2005

1. Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
2. Birds in Backyards
3. BF Member observations

• List of references

[edit] External Links