By day they camp in the mangroves, and move out to feed at night, searching for blossoms, fruit and nectar. These birds roost in the mangroves, and the estuaries provide a bountiful feeding ground that yields a wide variety of food such as worms, molluscs, crustaceans and an abundance of fish. In the freshwater marshes back towards the mountains there may be brolgas, tall cranes that perform spectacular and graceful dances. The brolga chicks hatch in floating nests of reeds and sticks, and are soon able to explore their environment. The brolgas stilt-like legs and long beaks are perfect for wading in the marshes and spearing the frogs, reptiles and rodents they live on.
Mangroves live in a harsh environment at the very edge of the sea, where land meets water.
The grey mangrove is a salt excreter. Tissues in the roots and lower stem also have a secondary use, filtering out some salts. Pneumatophores, aerial breathing roots that look rather like pegs, absorb oxygen at low tide. The red mangrove copes with the conditions in rather different ways. The red mangrove is a salt excluder.