Australian Brush-turkey
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| Alectura lathami Gray, 1831 |
The Australian Brush-turkey Alectura lathami, also frequently called the Scrub Turkey, is a common, widespread species of mound-building bird from the family Megapodiidae found in eastern Australia from Far North Queensland to Illawarra in New South Wales. It is the largest of the three Megapodiidae that occur in Australia.
It is a spectacular large bird with a prominent, fan-like tail flattened sideways. The Brush-turkey is mainly black but has a bare red head, and a yellow or bluish-grey wattle. Their undersides are sprinkled with white feathers, more pronounced in older birds. The Brush-turkey flies very clumsily with heavy flapping when it is frightened and roosts in trees at night and during the heat of the day.
The adult Brush-turkey is 60-75 cm in length, with predominantly black body plumage, with a wingspan of about 85 cm. It has a featherless red head and a yellow throat wattle. The male's wattle becomes much larger during breeding season, often swinging from side to side as they run. The males' red heads and yellow wattles also become much brighter during the breeding and nesting season.
A smaller race, purpureicollis, lives in northern Cape York Peninsula. It has bluish-white wattles.
Brush-turkeys are communal birds, and have communal nests. A typical group consists of a dominant male, one or more younger males and several females. They build large nests on the ground made of leaves, other combustible material and earth, 1 to 1.5 metres high and up to 4 metres across. The eggs are hatched by the heat of the composting mound which is tended only by the males who regulate the temperature by adding or removing material to keep a constant temperature of 33-35° C.
The same nesting site is frequently used year after year, the old ones being added to each breeding season. The average clutch of eggs is between 16 and 24 large white eggs, which are laid September to March. Sometimes up to 50 eggs laid by several females may be found in a single mound. The eggs are placed in a circle roughly 60-80 cm down, 20-30 cm apart, always with the large end up. The newly hatched young dig themselves out of the mound and then have to look after themselves.
Brush-turkey eggs are a favourite food of goannas, snakes, dingoes and dogs and once were a staple of Aboriginal Australians. Often goannas exhibit wounds on their tails of having been pecked by Brush-turkeys who ferociously chase them away from their nests.
[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2004). Alectura lathami. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 09 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
[edit] External links
- http://www.amonline.net.au/factsheets/brush_turkey.htm
- [1] Nature's PowerHouse - an Accredited Visitor & Environment Information Centre in the Cooktown Botanic Gardens featuring galleries of wildlife, botanical illustrations, local art, a bookstore and café.
- Australian Brush-turkey videos on the Internet Bird Collection
