Brolga, Cassowary, Emu, and Jabiru—Some of Australia’s Strange Birds

By Awake! correspondent in Australia

ARMED with fearsome claws, the flightless cassowary, described as the world’s most dangerous bird, can leap, kick, and rip, with overwhelming force. Similar in profile, and equally well armed, its relative the emu needs no wings—it runs like the wind. In dance, the brolga proclaims the genius of its Creator and Choreographer. And wading by, tall and lean, the jabiru is a model of avian dignity and poise. The wedge-tailed eagle, whether on the wing or guarding a kill, sports the lines of a consummate aerial hunter. Yes, each of these magnificent birds is truly a marvel of creation. With pleasure, then, we introduce . . .

The Colorful Cassowary—Friend of the Rain Forest

Weighing between 70 and 130 pounds [30 and 60 kg], the southern, or double-wattled, cassowary of the lush rain forests of northeastern Australia and of New Guinea is a beautiful but solitary bird. Standing about six feet [2 m] tall, the female is larger than the male and—unusual for a bird—is slightly more colorful than the male, who outside the mating season wisely keeps out of her way. After mating, the female lays a clutch of lustrous green eggs, but then she just wanders off, leaving the male to incubate them and care for the brood. She then mates with other males and leaves each of them with a clutch to care for!

Deforestation, however, is taking a toll on the cassowaries. In an attempt to increase their numbers, the Billabong Sanctuary near Townsville, Queensland, has instituted a captive-breeding program aimed at releasing birds back into the wild when they are old enough. Although omnivorous, cassowaries primarily eat fruit, which they swallow whole. Thus, seeds of over a hundred species of plants travel undigested through the bird’s gut and get widely dispersed throughout the forest in a protective and nutritious dollop of fertilizer. This, say the sanctuary experts, may make the cassowary a keystone species, in that considerable secondary extinction would follow its disappearance. But is the bird dangerous to humans?

Only to foolish persons who get too near. In reality, humans are a far greater threat to the cassowary than it has ever been to them. In the murky shadows of the rain forest, the bird will sound a deep guttural rumble to warn you it is near. Take the hint; go no closer. In all likelihood, it will charge off through the undergrowth, using its tough casque, or helmet, to protect its head. But when cornered or wounded or when protecting its young, it may attack if you get too near.

The Emu—Nomad and National Emblem

Closely related to and slightly taller than the cassowary, the emu is found in most parts of outback Australia. Of birds, only the ostrich is bigger. The skittish emu has long, powerful legs capable of bursts of speed of about 30 miles per hour [50 km/hr], and like the cassowary, each of its feet sports three lethal claws. Unlike its territorial relative, however, the emu is a nomadic wanderer and is rarely aggressive. It will eat practically anything—caterpillars, cabbages, even old boots! Once the female emu has laid her dark green eggs—usually between 7 and 10, but at times up to 20—she, like the cassowary, delegates incubating and parenting to the male.

Meeting Europeans was tough on the emu. Settlers quickly eradicated it from Tasmania. And on the mainland its taste for wheat earned it the title vermin and made it the victim of bounty hunters. Yet, in spite of unmitigated slaughter, emu numbers showed a remarkable resilience, so much so that in Western Australia an outright declaration of war was served on the bird in 1932. The government literally called in the army and two Lewis machine guns! Although not renowned for its intellect, the emu won this battle. The “war” was a public farce and a political embarrassment; ten thousand rounds claimed, at most, a few hundred birds. But in the subsequent war of attrition—emu versus the double-barreled attack of bounty on the birds and government-sponsored free ammunition for farmers—emus were no longer able to hold their own.

Nowadays, however, the emu is a national symbol. It stands proudly facing a kangaroo on Australia’s coat of arms and wanders the bush in safety. Drought is its worst enemy. Emus are even being bred and farmed experimentally for a wide range of products: totally fat-free meat; strong, durable leather; feathers; and oil that is obtained from a flab of fat on the bird’s chest. This localized fat store is the reason the flesh is completely fat free.

Do You Like to Dance?

Perhaps not, but the brolgas certainly do. At their waterside “ballroom,” “any number [of these gray cranes], from a pair up to a dozen or so birds,” says the book The Waterbirds of Australia, “will line up roughly opposite each other and start the dance. They prance forward on their stilt-like legs with wings half-open and shaking. Bowing and bobbing their heads, they advance and retire, gurgling and fluting softly. Now and then a bird will stop and, throwing back its head, trumpet wildly. The birds may also leap a few feet into the air and parachute back to earth on broad black and grey wings. Pieces of twig or grass are flung about and the Brolgas make attempts to catch the pieces or stab at them with their bills as they fall.” An inspiring performance, especially considering the size of the birds, which stand over three feet [1 m] tall and have about a six-foot [2 m] wingspan!

While many species of birds perform elaborate courtship displays during breeding season, the brolga, one of the largest of all cranes, is an incurable all-year-round dancer. In fact, its name comes from the Aboriginal legend of a famous female dancer named Buralga. She refused the attentions of an evil magician. He, in response, turned her into a graceful crane.

The Jabiru—Australia’s Only Stork

A bird of the wetlands, the jabiru, or black-necked stork, frequents the steamy north and east coasts of Australia. (The South American jabiru is a different species of stork.) Slim, four feet [130 cm] long, and dashing in color, the jabiru is unmistakable among the myriads of other birds of the wetlands. While stalking the shallows, it will lunge its long, powerful bill into the water so forcefully that it has to jerk its wings partially open to counteract the force.

And how mighty those wings are! Stretching its wings some six feet [2 m] from tip to tip, with primary feathers spread like fingers, the jabiru soars in lazy circles until it is just a small cross in the sky. Indeed, the airborne jabiru, with its long wings, neck, and legs silhouetted against the huge red ball of the setting equatorial sun, is a cherished symbol of the wetlands of Australia’s north.

The Wedge-Tailed Eagle—King of the Skies

A stone’s throw out from the rocky summit of a mountain in Victoria, and in the face of a biting gale that drove all other birds from the sky, a wedge-tailed eagle played. Writer David Hollands witnessed the aerobatic show of a lifetime: “The eagle hung there,” he writes, “virtually motionless and completely at home in this wild medium. . . . As I watched, it dropped, closing its wings to plunge vertically. For a hundred metres it fell and then the wings opened ever so slightly, sending it rocketing upwards to regain most of the height that had been lost in the fall. . . . It levelled out with a half roll, then soared higher [and] repeated the dive again and again, hurtling dramatically into the valley floor and up again in a sustained and thrilling display.”

With an eight-foot [2.5 m] wingspan and a distinctly wedge-shaped tail, this graceful and powerful monarch is impossible to confuse with any other bird in the Australian skies. Its talons can clamp with a force of three tons! For a time, however, the only “proper” way to see a wedge-tailed eagle was down the barrel of a rifle. Like its relative the American bald eagle, which was shot mercilessly to protect the salmon and fur industries, this Australian eagle was persecuted for occasionally taking a lamb. “Few other raptors [birds of prey] in the world,” says the book Birds of Prey, “have been persecuted as severely as the Wedge-tailed Eagle . . . For almost 100 years it was considered vermin . . . , and monetary bonuses were paid for proof of slaughter.”

Over the years, however, the charges were dropped. Its main diet proved to be feral rabbits and occasionally native animals, including wallabies up to twice its own weight. This revelation, at long last, earned the eagle amity with man as well as legal protection.

Yes, what an astonishingly complex, beautiful, and vital part of earth’s web of life birds are! We may learn this in time, but often wisdom comes too late—after greed and ignorance have taken their toll. But how comforting to know that if we pay attention, even now our ears can thrill to gurgling, chirping, whistling, honking, fluting, quacking, and squawking in the skies, forests, and wetlands of this beautiful planet!

[Pictures on page 16]

Cassowary

Brolga

[Credit Line]

Left and bottom: Australian Tourist Commission (ATC); top middle and right: Billabong Sanctuary, Townsville, Australia

[Pictures on page 17]

Eagle

Emu

Jabiru

[Credit Line]

Eagle chicks and emu head: Graham Robertson/NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, Australia; flying eagle: NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, Australia; emu with young and jabiru: Australian Tourist Commission (ATC)

[Picture Credit Lines on page 15]

Left: Graham Robertson/NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, Australia; right: Australian Tourist Commission (ATC); top: Billabong Sanctuary, Townsville, Australia