A bush stone-curlew pair have left a couple stuck in their own driveway after the birds planted themselves in front of the car to protect their chicks.
The standoff happened in the Whitsundays, Queensland, Donna Buckingham shared on Instagram on October 14.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Curlew parents protect their chicks
Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today 
In the video, two small chicks can be seen lying flat on the ground while the parent birds screech and one stretches its wings wide, standing guard.
“You’re gonna have to move, mate,” Donna can be heard saying as the couple prepare to leave their home in their car.
“Oh, you’re so beautiful and we don’t want to hurt your babies. But you need to move.”
It was not the first time she encountered the little feathered family on her ground, but the birds usually just moved on.
“They just kind of stop and just hide and stay still there,” Donna told 7NEWS.com.au.
“And they’ve never made that growling sound until they had the babies.
“But this time they were really like, we’re not gonna move.
“The babies plonked down, played dead and one of them opened her wings and just started growling.”
Donna and her husband weren’t able to pull out of their driveway.
Online, viewers found the whole scene very relatable.
“Yeah sorry boss, can’t come to work today, been bullied in my driveway by the curlews again,” one user joked.
Another commented, “I love it when the wings came out. Like a security guard — madam, do not enter this area.”
The bush stone-curlew is a native species found across most of Australia.
The female bush stone-curlew usually lays two eggs in a nest on the ground, where they are incubated for 28 days.
Experts say the chicks often “play dead” as a natural defence mechanism — they think they are hiding — while parents protect them.
“They’re urban adapters and they’re really good parents, as you can see in the video, spreading its wings and making that growling noise,” urban birds program coordinator Dr Christina Zdenek from Birdlife Australia told 7NEWS.com.au.
She said it’s actually not unusual to see bush stone-curlews in unexpected urban spots as they move around during the day and night.
When chicks sense danger — and they see humans as potential predators — their instinct is to drop flat and stay still, a behaviour known as crypsis, Zdenek explained.
“To us it looks cute or funny, but for the birds it’s a serious defence mechanism.”
In their natural woodland habitat, the dappled light and low vegetation would camouflage them almost perfectly.
But not so much in front of a suburban driveway.
“Unfortunately, in urban areas we’ve removed a lot of that vegetation, so they have much further to travel between safe zones,” she said.
“We’re just planting lawns and trees and we’re missing that shrub layer,” Zdenek said.
If approached, the birds are known to screech loudly, making themselves look larger to ward off threats.
As one viewer summarized the bird’s behaviour: “I put myself in danger, then I scream!”
Wildlife experts say if encountered, it’s best to give them space until they move off on their own.
However, Donna and her husband eventually could start driving.
“My husband said, let’s give them a minute,” Donna told 7NEWS.com.au.
“Just walk away and I’m sure they’ll go away. And that’s exactly what happened.
“I had forgotten my sunglasses, so I went back down to the house and by the time I came back up they were gone.
“We love them, they were on our list of pros of moving here.”
Zdenek said the couple in the video did the right thing by simply giving the birds a minute to move on.
“I’d just go inside, watch from a safe distance and let the birds feel comfortable to continue their movement into a safe area,” she said.
Alongside the video, Donna wrote her family had just moved to the Whitsundays and loved the local wildlife.
They had never had curlews nesting so close to them before.
“We love these birds,” she said.
Bush stone-curlews are listed as “Least Concern” in Queensland, but are classed as vulnerable in South Australia and endangered in NSW and Victoria.
The species has even needed help to return to some parts of the country.
“In the ACT, they were actually reintroducing this species into Mulligan’s Flat,” Zdenek said, explaining foxes and cats had wiped out local populations there.
The video comes as the Aussie Bird Count kicks off next week, inviting Australians to get involved spotting and appreciating birds in our neighbourhoods.
