I took a photo of some tracks in mud at a dam on my farm. I'm in the western district volcanic plains region, about two hours west of Melbourne.
I just can't figure these three-toed tracks out and they don't fit a lot of the wading birds I've seen in terms of size, appearance etc.
To me they look like brolga or bustard-style tracks in their shape but are obviously too small. Yet the gait and size looks too big for something like a plover.I feel like if they were web-toed birds it would show given the depth of the imprint. I guess a plover is the most likely one??
The mammal tracks are from a fox, for comparison.
Help! I'm intrigued what mystery bird it might be.
Not too many responses so far, ekblang!
That's a rather specialist area that I for one know next to nothing about. However, you might like to google <bird tracks>. Let's know how you go because you might start something!
Meanwhile, I'm aware that Cassowarys & Emus have only three forward pointing toes but your tracks seem much smaller than those. Besides, the western volcanic plains of Victoria are well outside the Cassowary's range, at least.
Thanks!
Yes it's certainly not any big bird. A bustard has smaller similar tracks to an emu but it's also too big for this and i'm pretty sure regionally exctinct by now. Probably with my luck it really is just a plover.
I definitely scrounged the internet for tracks and that's how I got so intrigued - I could find so very few with just three toes in that formation! I'll try another forum or two and see what happens, then I suppose my last resort will be to go back and sit and wait for the culprit to emerge.
sorry that I cannot help either, but I am somewhat curious and would be interested in your findings
Peter