Brolga

Brolga
Brolga (Antigone rubicunda), Healesville Sanctuary, Victoria
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
CITES Appendix II (CITES)[2]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Gruiformes
Family:	Gruidae
Genus:	Antigone
Species:	A. rubicunda
Binomial name
Antigone rubicunda (Perry, 1810)
Distribution in red
Synonyms[3]
Ardea rubicunda Grus antarctica Illiger, 1816 Mathewsia rubicunda (Iredale, 1911) Grus rubicundus Grus australasianus

The brolga (Antigone rubicunda), formerly known as the native companion, is a bird in the crane family. It has also been given the name Australian crane, a term coined in 1865 by well-known ornithologist John Gould in his Birds of Australia.^[4]

The brolga is a common, gregarious wetland bird species of tropical and south-eastern Australia and New Guinea. It is a tall, upright bird with a small head, long beak, slender neck, and long legs. Its plumage is mainly grey, with black wing tips, and it has an orange-red band on its head. The brolga's courting dance is similar to that of other cranes. The nest is built of wetland vegetation, either on an elevated piece of land or floating on shallow water in marshland, and usually two eggs are laid. Incubation takes 32 days, and the newly hatched young are precocial. The adult diet is omnivorous and includes plant matter, invertebrates, and small vertebrates.^[5]

Although the bird is not considered endangered over the majority of its range, populations are showing some decline, especially in southern Australia, and local action plans are being undertaken in some areas.^[6] It has featured on the Queensland coat of arms since 1977 and was formally declared as the bird emblem of the state in 1986.^[7]