Bush - Stone curlews - With dr dave

(Music plays)   Dave: What have we got here? No, there’s nothing there actually. Just joking. But this, this is the perfect habitat for Bush Stone-curlews, quite a rare native bird:   fallen timber, native grasses is just what they need.   Now Stacey, are you up for an adventure? Stacey: I sure am. Dave: I reckon you can try and find some for us. What do you think? Stacey: Yes.   Okay, so Dr Dave has sent us down here, just outside Burrumbuttock to look for the Bush Stone-curlew.   Wow, let’s just be really quiet here. This has been a real challenge.   Because they’re a vulnerable species they are rarely found in our catchment.   Oh, is that one? Oh wow, I think there's three. That’s amazing. As they’re usually found in pairs.   So that must be the mum, the dad and the baby.   It’s great news that farmers, land care groups, schools and communities have been working together to help protect this special bird. Dr Dave’s going to love this.   Dave: Well done, Stacey. These guys are actually quite scarce in southern New South Wales now.   You can see they’ve got a large nocturnal eye, long legs, with quite knobby knees.   In the daytime, they spend their time nibbling on insects, spiders, seeds and little green shoots, moving out into open grassy paddocks, and that puts them at risk from the big bad fox.   Stacey: They lay their eggs out in open paddocks.   This means the eggs become vulnerable to trampling by stock, like cattle and horses.   Dave: So it’s a really good idea to leave those fallen logs and branches around and the Bush Stone-curlew can keep on surviving.   (Music plays)