The Mallee Fowl is certainly endangered.
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Some time ago I went searching with my friend John Cooper, a fellow photographer.
Our search took as out to farm areas near Hay where we were lucky to first spot one in the scrub and sometime later came across the very large mound. We then set up a hide and were surprised how quickly the male returned to work on the mound. We used a longer lens and at some stage introduced some fill flash on this magnificent bird.
It completely ignored the hide.
Mallee fowl mate for life, yet are usually solitary.
The male is bound to looking after the mound while the female wanders in search of food.
The male in fact is the one that builds the mound and continually works on it. He opens the egg chamber when the female returns to lay eggs.
His job is to increase or decrease cover to keep the eggs at the right temperature. This is a constant job.
He also has to defend the nest from predators such as foxes and other reptiles.
The mound itself is surprisingly large, usually 3-5 metres in diameter and one metre high. In the middle of the mound, up to a cubic metre of moist litter is buried.
The minute the chicks hatch they scramble to the surface through loose sand. When they emerge they need to be completely self sufficient.
After a couple of hours they wander off into the scrub and are able to fend for themselves.
Chicks typically begin hatching and emerging from mounds in November, and although hatching may continue until March in some seasons, most chicks usually emerge from mounds before January.
Chicks hatch buried with up to a metre of sand above them, and their unaided struggle to the surface may take up to 15 hours.
Not surprisingly the mortality rate of chicks is very high over the first few weeks after hatching, with many falling victims to predators such as foxes, or often starvation.
The Mallee fowl is found in semi-arid to arid shrublands and low woodlands, especially those dominated by mallee and/or acacias. It is located in all mainland states with the exception of Queensland.
A sandy substrate and abundance of leaf litter are required for breeding.
In size they are probably comparable to that of a hey are about the size of a domestic chicken and, like the chicken, spend most of the time on the ground.
This was a great experience and the only time I have come across these magnificent birds.
Till the next time.
