Australian Bustard

Ardeotis australis.

Somewhere between Cania Gorge and Goomeri, Queensland, Australia.

The Australian Bustard is the only member of it's family in Australia. It is a large bird, with a wingspan of between 1.6m and 2.1m and standing between 76cm and 1.5m tall. Now virtually extinct in settled areas, they can still be seen out on the plains in most of Australia (except the SE and Tasmania).

View all photos taken: Friday, 11th July 2008, This photo: 9:08am

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Comments

  • Stewart Macdonald said:
    Seeing so many together is pretty impressive. I've only ever seen a maximum of three at one time. Last year I found out that they're also called plains turkeys, because people used to eat them!
    Stewart
  • David de Groot said:
    I can well imagine people would eat them, they're a large bird - probably get four or five meals out of them if you were careful.
    Pretty impressive to see though - I spotted them from the highway while driving and stopped fairly quickly and wandered back to shoot them. They were somewhat flighty though as I crossed the road and they took off (would have been at least 50m away at a guess, maybe further).
  • Clearskies Images said:
    Awesome!!
    I have only seen them in our local sanctuary!!
  • ßlϋeωãvε said:
    You busted the Bustard's party!
  • David de Groot said:
    It was definitely a treat spotting them Cecily, not something you see every day.
    Indeed I did, aren't I a bastard? ;-)
  • -Gadabout- said:
    At first I thought this was a sequence of shots of the same bird ! They are HUGE. Nice capture :)
  • David de Groot said:
    Indeed they are huge, quite surprised me, as I'd not seen one, let alone a flock of them before. :) Just wish I could have gotten closer...
  • -Gadabout- said:
    I know what you mean - I've only ever seen a big bird once and it was sitting at the side of the road - all I could think was OMG that is HUGE! Of course, no idea what it was!
    Flocks are tricky - they've got all the angles covered in case you try to approach. Good excuse for buidling a fort :P
  • David de Groot said:
    Tricky indeed, but I don't think the family would have been impressed if I'd said, right, we're stopping here for the rest of the day and I'll be hiding in a bunch of branches over there in the paddock ;-)
  • leadegroot said:
    Well, given we were headed home from a weeks holiday and had to pick the dogs up from the kennel before COB, umm... No!
    .... but, sweetie! You could have spent the day there and then hitchhiked the 500 km home afterwards. I wouldn't have had a heart attack from worry, no, not me... :-P
  • -Gadabout- said:
    David lol, no not at all !!!
    Lea rofl

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