Burhinus grallarius

Hi there,

So what is a Burhinus grallarius? Also commonly called a Bush Stone-curlew...
Well, it simply is an Australian bird.

And some time ago we had a pair of them who decided to have their nest just next to the staff parking at work.
And when I say nest... Look at one of them on the so called nest...

I have seen more comfortable before.

This was directly on the ground one or two feet from the parking lot, even camouflaged as this bird think it is, we could see it sitting in our cars. And this is a parking where quite a few people come and go every days.

And while one of them was nesting under full sun light, the other one was standing guard, in the shadow two or three meters away, and would come out hissing every time someone walked too close. 

Here it is.

Trying to look tough.

I am definitively no expert, but I found them interesting and decided to try to learn a bit more about them. So I asked to Thomas Parkin at the Museum and Art Gallery or the Northern Territory what kind of bird they were.

And he explained to me that they were Bush Stone-curlew and also gave me their scientific name (Burhinus grallarius). He also told me that they are an Australian bird and are found on the main land and on some offshore islands of Australia.

That they incubate the eggs for 22 to 28 days, and take turns in doing so. So it is not a gender dedicated task, but is done by both the male and the female.

They are mostly nocturnal and are responsible for some eerie "crying" noises in the middle of the nights.

Any way it is apparently a quite common bird, it is just that I never had the chance to watch them so closely before.

And has a bonus to you, here is another photo, of another nest that I saw one day walking not too far from Darwin.

This one may look like the real job, more comfy, on a branch and all...

But look at the size of the branch, and not very high either...

And I have absolutely no clues whatsoever at what birds had made this nest.

Siblings in the making.

It look like Australian birds like to live close to the ground...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me