World Cassowary Day

Sunday is World Cassowary Day. Interesting because Cassowaries occur only in northeastern Australia and New Guinea. Most visitors to the Cairns region either don't know what they are and/or have never seen one. They are always impressed by both the beauty and size of the birds.

CLICK ON THE PHOTOS TO ENLARGE

Mrs Cassowary stopped by and just stood in one spot for about 10 minutes before disappearing into the forest.

Individual birds can be recognised by a number of features. The shape and condition of the casque as well as the shape of the wattles often helps.

With this gal, the middle toe of the left foot seems swollen compared to the right.

Cassowaries are under threat mainly from habitat destruction but also from incidents with cars and trucks and depredations from feral animals such as dogs and pigs.