Plains-wanderer Plains-wanderer

1. Long straw-yellow legs and upright stance

2. Females have a reddish-brown chest and black-and-white collar

3. Males are smaller, duller, and lack the female’s bright markings

Plains-wanderers are ground-foragers, feeding on seeds, insects, and spiders. They are mostly active during the day but are extremely secretive, preferring to run rather than fly when disturbed. Breeding mainly occurs from August to November, with the possibility of second clutches following summer rains. Females lay 3–5 eggs per clutch, and males take on all incubation and chick-rearing duties, sometimes assisted briefly by females. The male incubates the eggs for about 23 days and cares for the chicks for up to two months before they become independent.

Plains-wanderers are now found in fragmented populations across north-central Victoria, the western Riverina region of New South Wales, parts of eastern South Australia, and, less commonly, southwest Queensland. They inhabit open native grasslands with about half bare ground and low vegetation, typically under 1–15 cm tall, interspersed with small tussocks and native herbs. They avoid dense pasture, woodland, and bare ground, making their preferred habitat increasingly rare. Most sightings are in conservation reserves and remt grasslands, and even in these areas, they are difficult to observe without expert assistance.