Bush Stone-Curlew - one of Australia's distinctive birds

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Today we visited a wildlife park in Bunbury, Western Australia. In the twenty years, we lived in the area, we never visited but today we had some time to kill so off we went. I was intrigued by the three bush stone-curlews (Burhinus gallarius) that were in one of the walk-through enclosures. These quaint birds are endangered in some states. As you can see they have long, dainty legs and a strong, sharp beak. They are most active at night and have a distinctive eerie ‘scream’. The yellow eye is also quite distinctive. The eggs are laid in a shallow scrape with both birds sharing in the incubation and raising of the young. They eat a variety of plant and animal life. The habitat can vary from open woodland to savannah, dune scrub and forest and mangrove fringes. Their feathering ensures they blend well into native bush covering.