| Common name | Bush stone-curlew |
| Scientific name | Burhinus grallarius |
| Type | Bird |
| Diet | Wide-ranging diet, including seeds, insects, small vertebrates, and occasionally small mammals. |
| Average lifespan | 20 years, or more |
| Size | 50–60cm tall |
This quirky bird is known for its comical, caricature-like appearance, as well as its iconic high-pitched wail that is often likened to a woman’s scream.
The bush stone-curlew (Burhinus grallarius) stands 50–60 centimetres high, with a round body, long legs, knobbly knees, and very distinctive large yellow eyes with prominent white eyebrows.
Its colouring – streaks of grey, brown, and black – provides camouflage in bushland, especially at dusk and at night. Both sexes have similar appearance. Juveniles are paler, and generally browner in colour.
It is nocturnal and ground-dwelling, living in open forests, grassy woodlands, and sparse bushland.
Endemic to Australia, it is found in all mainland states, but numbers have drastically declined over the last century, especially in south-eastern parts of Australia.
Threats to the bush stone-curlew include predation by introduced predator species (namely foxes and cats) and clearance of habitat.
Various initiatives are returning the species to places it once inhabited across the south-east of Australia, in a bid to restore the species to its historical range.Bush stone-curlew pairs create ground nests, nesting from August to February. The female generally lays two eggs that are incubated by both parents.
The call of the bush stone-curlew is said to resemble the sound of a woman’s scream.
Birdlife Australia describes it as an “eerie, high-pitched wailing at night, and occasionally during the day. This ghost-like call is their contact call and may be given by several birds in a chorus. Rendered as weer-lo, it is repeated four or five times, sometimes culminating in a trilled, screeching crescendo.”
