Stone Curlews on campus (1 Viewer)

As I drove into the carpark at University of Queensland today, it was lovely to see four Bush Stone-curlews (Burhinus grallarius) lined up to enjoy the morning sun. As we go into winter, the night-time temperatures are dropping to c. 6-9oC but the days are beautifully warm and sunny.

These birds spend most of the day sitting in garden beds, where they blend in well with the pine-bark mulch, which is spread between the shrubs. They are quite used to people and generally just freeze when anyone walks nearby.

Sometime I must find out more about their nocturnal activities and just what they are feeding on. I suspect that it may be insects attracted by the street lights.

Pete

Hi Pete!

It's hard to believe you are entering winter when we have not quite made it to summer yet.

I'm not familiar with these birds so I just checked out our data base and was lucky to find the one you speak of. They have remarkably long legs, and, as there was no description in the data base, I was wondering whether they were inclined towards water even though you mention them hanging out in the garden.

Hi KC

These Bush Stone-curlews not tied to water at all. They seem to me to be a rather larger and nocturnal equivalent of the Masked Lapwings (plovers) that we also have on campus. They have a very wierd call at night, it can be a bit scary if you don't
know what it is, something like " weeeeeeee, wu, weeeeeeeee, wu, weeeeeeee, wu,...

There is a second species in Australia (and to the north) the Beach Stone-curlew,
that is found on the beach and which seems to like crabs.

In the southern states of Australia Bush Stone-curlews have declined in numbers, probably due to the introduced foxes, but in Queensland they are still reasonably common.
A few years back we were on Magnetic Island, off Townsville and while having dinner at an open-air pasta restuarant we had these birds coming in right between the tables. After a minor accident we realised why they were there - they like pasta too!

Cheers

Pete