Timelapse Photography Reveals Nesting Malleefowl's Busy Day

Occurred on October 22, 2022 / Roto, New South Wales, Australia

Info from Licensor: "We knew very little on the activities of the Malleefowl on the property we manage in New South Wales, Australia, so we placed a motion activated camera on the one of the active mounds. When we reviewed the 15,000 plus photos a month later, we couldn’t believe just how busy these guys are. This video was made by stitching the stills captured for one day. The male malleefowl does most of the work in monitoring the mound temperature and digging out up to a half-ton of sand and leaf litter, then scratching the dirt back up into a mound at the end of the day. When the mound has been dug out, the eggs are vulnerable and a Goanna happens to come around and to see if there are any eggs available for a snack. Not this time! A Bearded dragon also pays a visit but is more interested in the insects lying amongst the leaf litter.

After about 60 days of digging out the mound and scratching back up again, the Malleefowl chicks will hatch and make their own way up through the mound to fend for themselves. Hopefully, we will be there to catch the next generation of malleefowl."