Last week our Regional Ecologist, Hannah, was joined by Bush Heritage Australia Reserve Manager Lewi and volunteer Annie to check on remote cameras at one of our monitoring sites in the Fitzgerald-Stirling corridor. Whilst walking through the thick scrub to check the cameras, the team were thrilled to stumble across a #malleefowl mound, where a pair of malleefowl were ‘actively’ maintaining a nest with eggs inside.
Malleefowl usually begin breeding around September, creating large mounds (3-5 metres in diameter) as nests, with the male spending hours each day maintaining the nest at a constant temperature for incubation. Moist leaf litter is critical for the mound and is an important habitat component for malleefowl. Eggs are incubated in the mound for around 60 days each, and chicks are completely independent from the moment they hatch.
It’s fantastic to see breeding activity occurring for this threatened species. Known malleefowl mounds at our monitoring sites will be surveyed later this month, and we can’t wait to see the results!
This project is supported by South Coast Natural Resource Management through funding from the Australian Government National Landcare Program.