Brolgas flourish after drought

The end of the drought has led to a record number of brolgas in south-west Victoria this year.

More than 900 of the threatened birds were counted across sites including Willaura, Penshurst, Lake Bolac and Camperdown on one day in April.

The Department of Environment and Primary Industries' senior biodiversity officer, Richard Hill, says that's about 300 more birds than in previous years.

He says more rain has encouraged breeding but bird observers have also improved their methods.

"We're getting better at finding them, so that's probably a big part of the reason we've got more birds this year but also there's been good breeding by brolgas in the last three years, whereas in the drought in the decade leading up to 2010, we've only seen 2 or 3 per cent of the flocks with young birds," he said.

He says the brolga is an important species.

"Brolgas are a really iconic bird in south-west Victoria, most of us know of them ... for people who aren't into birds even this bird is so iconic and spectacular that I think most of us know of it and most farmers where these birds live they live almost exclusively on private land, on farmland," he said.