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Australian Brush-turkey

(Alectura lathami)
Alternative names: "Scrub-turkey", "Wattled Talegallus"
Aboriginal names: "woggoon", "wagun" [gamilaraay, yuwaalaraay]
Size: 60-70 cm

Habitat
(for details refer to a field guide)

Australian Brush-turkeys are found along the eastern seaboard of Australia, from Cape York to the NSW mid-north coast, including urban centres in that range. Inland they go as far as the hills of the Great Dividing Range, but not out into the flat centre.

Australian Brush-turkeys like best densely wooded areas, most of all rainforest, where they live in the underbrush. In the Great Dividing Range they are found in more open and drier woodland as well.

Sightings

We have seen Australian Brush-turkeys in National Parks east of the Great Dividing Range, e.g. in Dorrigo National Park, New South Wales. They are so bold that sighting them is no art. When fed they can actually become quite annoying.

In December 2007 we found an Australian Brush-turkey on the western side of the Great Dividing Range, in Deriah Forest, 30 km east of Narrabri. It was about 200-300 m from the location of a mound (see photo below). More (both mature and immature) birds were seen in the same area in the following months and years.

Also seen by us in many different locations, especially in coastal areas, of central QLD in July 2009.

Photos

Near-frontal view of an adult bird

Lateral view of the same bird as shown above

Australian Brush-turkey in its natural habitat, on the ground in a rain forest

Here a different perspective

Australian Brush-turkey trying to evade the photographer by climbing up into a eucalypt tree, from where it launched itself to further increase the distance

Immature bird in rain forest

Breeding information

Breeding season: Aug - Feb Eggs: 3 - 30 Incubation period: 50 days Fledging age: N/A

A male Australian Brush-turkey will try to attract a females to his mound, with the goal for her to mate with him and lay her eggs in his mound. The heat of leaf litter fermentation and of the sun is used to incubate the eggs. The male will take care of temperature and moisture control in the mound during the incubation period. Hatching chicks will leave the mound and be independent immediately. This is the reason why one can find solitary youngsters (as the one shown in a photo above).

Nest

Type: Mound Material: Leaf litter Height above ground: N/A

The mound shown below is about 2.5 m in diameter and apparently only about 50 cm deep (unless there is a depression in the ground below).

Nesting mound of an Australian Brush-turkey 30 km east of Narrabri, NSW. One can see fresh scratch marks, where material had recently been re-distributed

Here a male looking on as a female lays here eggs into a hollow he had scratched into his mound

Here a young obsessive, compulsive scratcher learning its business

Eggs

Size: 92 x 63 mm Colour: Plain white (but normally soiled) Shape: Elliptical

Although common and widespread, Australian Brush-turkeys are vulnerable. The reason for this, apart from loss of habitat, is the very low efficiency of their breeding efforts. A mound can contain up to about 50 eggs, but only about 1 in 200 eggs yields an individual that will reach maturity, i.e. only one out of every four mounds.

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Males territorial Mobility: Sedentary Elementary unit: Solitary

Australian Brush-turkeys can become quite tame - so much so that in some areas such as picnic and barbeque spots, but also people's gardens, they are perceived as a nuisance. The compulsive scratching of the males, in particular, is often found to be annoying by gardeners, who just seem to have a different sense of order than the birds...

Food

Australian Brush-turkeys are omnivores. They feed on seeds and fruit and also small animals they find in the leaf litter of perferably dense bushland.