There is a wonderful and very unusual bird in Australia that is called a Plains Wanderer. The magnificent little ball of feathers is highly elusive, it's habitat and ground dwelling behaviour resembles a quail but is in a family on it's own which is actually more closely related to a wader.
The Plains Wanderer lives in the Riverina of NSW and Vic and in a few locations in SA. It likes the native open grasslands and the grass needs to be short so the little bird is able to walk freely and find the grass seeds that it feeds on.
The best way to find these birds is to go spotlighting. Unusually it is the female that is remarkably coloured with her distinct neck pattern. I was STOKED to have a close encounter with this little beauty in 2010 when I went spotlighting with my friend Simon Starr. After initially flushing she actually walked up to us and posed for photos before getting bored and wandering off into the night.
