Adults: Head, scarlet, down sides of neck. Crown, bare and grey. Eye, deep red. Some white feathers in 'bustle'. In flight primaries are darker than the rest of the wing, forming a square, blackish, broad wingtip. Bill, deep scarlet base. Legs, dark pink or red, occasionally grey.
Immatures: Light rufous wash over head, and upper neck. Legs, grey-pink.
Downy Young: Rusty buff, grading to white in center of breast and belly. Dark brown lines down center of back. Buff-white spot opposite base of both white-tipped wings on sides of back.
Tropical northern Australia, between Kununurra, WA and around Darwin, NT, and the Gulf of Carpenteria from about Bourketown east to the Atherton Tableland and about Ingham, Qld.
Habits
In pairs or flocks. Often occurs with Brolga (Antigone rubicunda) in mixed flocks (in northern Australia).
Food
Insects, small rodents, frogs and reptiles. Also herbage. Occasionally causes damage to grain crops.
Voice
Trumpeting 'garrraww' in contact in flight, especially on take-off - more grating than Brolga. Duet in courting and advertising territory a trumpeting 'krrr-kwerrr-krr-krr' by male and 'tuk-tuk-tuk-tuk' in unison by female. In alarm a trumpeting blast. Chicks solicit with a shrill, trilled 'peeep'.
Nest
A rough mass of reeds, grass and sticks, placed on a slight hummock on the ground.
Eggs (Guide)
Usually 2; glossy, bluish-white to cream, lightly spotted and dotted with brown, mauve and sepia; mainly oval; about 100 - 105 x 65 mm. Incubation: by both sexes.
Young
Precocial, nidifugous. Usually only one young reared. Chick begins to walk, swim and feed itself after two days and is almost self-sufficient in a week. Fledging in about 109 days.
Subspecies
Recently described subspecies gilliae sometimes still included within sharpii. Possible subspecies luzonica, endemic to Philippines, now presumed extinct and possibly synonymous with gilliae or sharpii, or both.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
antigone (Linnaeus, 1758) - Northern India, Nepal and (formerly?) Bangladesh.
sharpii (Blanford, 1895) - Cambodia and southern Laos. Winters in Vietnam. Status in eastern India and Myanmar uncertain.
gillae Schodde, Blackman and Haffenden, 1989 - Northern Australia, mainly in Queensland only scattered populations elsewhere.
Similar Species
Brolga (Antigone rubicunda) which is smaller and has a dewlap. Scarlet does not extend down neck. Legs, dark grey. In flight the primaries and trailing edges of the secondaries are darker than rest of wing.
Compare Images
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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BirdLife International Species Factsheet