Australian Bustard
英文名：Australian Bustard（学名：Ardeotis australis），是鸨形目鸨科的鸟类。76 厘米–1.5 米；翼展 1.6–2.1 米。雄鸟较大。开阔地带的大型鸟类，气度威严，姿态挺拔。雄鸟：头顶黑色；脸、颈和胸灰白色，具醒目的黑色胸带；翅弯处呈黑白斑纹。雌鸟：体型较小；头顶较窄、偏褐；颈/胸更灰，无胸带。单只、成对、结群：在澳大利亚北部，蝗虫、蟋蟀、家鼠丰富之处可见数十只（偶尔数百只）结群。行走姿态庄重，嘴高傲地扬起。逆风“滑行起步”；飞行强劲，庞大的身躯下垂，宽翅缓慢振动、双腿拖曳，特征明显。白天酷热时隐伏于高草或灌丛中不见踪影；傍晚出来取食。雄鸟炫耀：十分醒目；将膨大的白色羽饰胸囊垂至地面，尾向前展开覆于背上；原地“踏步”，使下垂的胸囊显眼地摇摆扭动。嘴指向天空，喉部鼓起，发出如远处狮吼般的声音。
Australian Bustard
76 cm-1.5 m; span 1.6-2.1 m. Male larger. Lordly, upstanding large bird of open country. Male: crown black; face, neck and breast grey-white, with bold black breastband; bend of wing patterned black and white. Female: smaller; narrow, browner crown; neck/breast greyer, no breastband. Singles, pairs, groups: in n. Aust., companies of dozens (occasionally hundreds) where grasshoppers, crickets, house mice abundant. Moves in stately walk, with bill aloofly raised. 'Taxies' into wind; flight powerful, large body sags, slow-beating broad wings and trailing legs distinctive. Rests unseen in tall grass or scrub in heat of day; moves out to feed at evening. Male display: conspicuous; extends expanded, white-plumaged breast sac to ground, fans tail forward over back; 'marks time' so that pendulous breast sac swings and twists conspicuously. Points bill skywards, balloons throat, roars like a distant lion.
- Other name
- Plains or Wild Turkey.
- Voice
- croaks while feeding; hoarse bark in alarm.
- Habitat
- grasslands, spinifex, open scrublands, grassy woodlands, sandhills, pastoral lands, burned ground; occasionally crops, airfields.
- Breeding
- Aug.-Nov., s. Aust.; all months, n. Aust.
- Eggs
- 1-3; buff to green-buff; on open bare ground; by bush, stones, tussock.
- Range & Status
- mainland Aust.; once widespread: still common away from settlement in parts of e. inland, inland, n. Aust. and WA. Now mostly extinct in settled districts of s., se. Aust. and sw. WA but casual wanderers still occur. Small, isolated population in Big Desert (Vic.). Nomadic, dispersive, in response to rainfall; regular movement s. in summer; to n. coastal Aust. in winter. Also s. PNG.
