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In Australia the Sarus Crane is observed most
readily in the Atherton Tablelands district.
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It is present there from May to December.
For the remainder of the year it nests on the marshy plains round the
Gulf of Carpentaria.
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During the day it forages in large flocks on
agricultural fields, searching for various food
items including shoots, tubers, seeds, insects and small vertebrates.
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Traditional roosts are occupied each evening, where
the birds sleep while standing in shallow water.
The best known is Bromfield Swamp on Upper Barron Road near Malanda.
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At sunset
hundreds of Sarus Cranes can be seen gliding in to roost in the Bromfield Swamp.
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Because
of its similarity to the Brolga, the Sarus Crane was not detected in Australia
until the 1960s. They
have been considered recent arrivals - natural invaders - but DNA studies suggest
that they may actually have been present for thousands of years. This is backed
by the fact that their home, Cape York peninsula south to the Burdekin and the
Gulf of Carpentaria, is some distance from the likely point of invasion from
Asia. (Source: Environmental Protection
Agency)
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On the Atherton Tablelands its numbers may be increasing.
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In
1998, a count by Birds Australia discovered that at 11 different sites across
the Atherton Tablelands 1844 cranes were counted.
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Sarus Cranes constituted 1255
of these, 139 were Brolgas and a further 450 were unidentified.
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Australia's
estimated Sarus Crane population is 5000, which means between one third and one
quarter of Australia's Sarus Cranes were counted on that one day.
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It
differs from the Brolga
in several ways, in particular by the greater amount of red about the head.
