Travelling couple's incredibly special discovery beside outback track: 'Amazing'
Caro and Craig were travelling along Goog's Track, a popular red dirt route for four-wheel driving in South Australia, when they spotted the large hole by the side of the road this month. They stopped and snapped a photo, saying online it was "amazing" that it was the workings of a malleefowl.
Jenny Denton Price — whose family is responsible for forging the road in the 1970s and where the road got its namesake from, taking after her late husband John 'Goog' Denton — told Yahoo News it's "rare" to find the large nests in Australia, but quite a few can be spotted along the track.
"My children saw malleefowl birds working on their nest [in the past]. They used to lie in the scrub and watch the hen and cock bird building the nest, and they got an egg out of it that year," Jenny reminisced to Yahoo News. "That nesting site [in the picture] has been there for a couple of years, they [the birds] go back there again and again."
Malleefowl nests can grow up to four metres in diameter
Malleefowl birds are one of three native mound-building birds in the country, and the species is the only one that lives in arid areas. The nests can grow up to four metres in diameter, and over one metre in height.
The birds themselves are shy and seldom seen, according to Bush Heritage Australia, meaning the sighting of a nest is incredibly special — especially as the birds are among very few species that mate for life.
Male birds are primarily responsible for building the nest, using their strong legs to scrape sand and leaf litter into a pile where the female will then lay the egg at the top of the mound.
The egg is covered by the debris and as it decomposes, it generates heat, aiding incubation of the eggs. The male birds maintain the temperature by adding or removing debris from the mound, using his beak as a natural thermostat.
Chicks hatch unaided around 60 days, with parents able to lay one egg every four to eight days, meaning 24 eggs can be hatched in one breeding season.
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Legacy of Denton family now enjoyed by hundreds of 4WD drivers
Jenny explained to Yahoo News her late husband Goog lived in the area since he was a "young lad" and was always intrigued by the scrub near his home. Curiosity got the better of him, and he began to make a clearing in order to discover what the land held, as well as connect his hometown of Cenduna to the east-west railway line at Tarcoola.
Between 1973 and 1976, family members constructed the track during weekends and the colder months using basic equipment like an old tractor with a blade, and later a bulldozer. Jenny still lives in Cenduna and told Yahoo News her door is always open for travellers wanting questions answered about the track.
"We never, ever thought it was going to be what it is today... It's got so busy. There's lots and lots of people that travel along it now," she said.
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