#brushturkey

[herpsandbirds]

Australian Brushturkey (Alectura lathami), male, family Megapodidae, order Galliformes, Australia

Photograph by JJ Harrison

[pochqmqri]

Australian brushturkey on James Cook University’s Townsville campus in Queensland, Australia 

[jettjaguar]

One of the young’uns who’s adopted our garden. Hubbs named him Ryan Gosling. (FotoCred:Mr.Fūd) #brushturkey #brushturkeys (at Sydney, Australia) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpOd3LSPbbY/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[bird-hours]

can i pls get a b(r)ush turkey to honour the nest they made around the corner from my house...

This guy was tough to draw 😭😭 but good practice!!

[battle-of-the-birds]

Remember to read about the contestants before voting!

Australian Brushturkey

With a beautiful little waddle, the Australian Brushturkey is actually not closely related to the Turkey! Another bird who survived the brink of extinction to live another day, they build huge nests in order to incubate their young. The temperature, regulated by the male Brushturkey by adding and removing material, can impact the sex of the hatched egg. At a certain temperature, the chance for male or female is 50%, but at colder temperatures females are more likely and vice versa. Learn More!

Emu

We all know of the Emu War… and if you don’t I would highly recommend looking it up. Back when Australia was first being used as a place to send prisoners, some farmers were having a hard time settling down due to the population of Emus already there. So began the emu wars. Armed with a shitty truck and a couple of guns, a few men went out to demolish the Emus. And of course… the Emu won! With their tough hides and the bumpy terrain, they were easily able to stand up against their attackers and take gunshot wounds in stride. Soon, with more Australians coming to the side of the emu, they eventually gave up their battle and the Emu lived on in their habitat. Learn More!

(Australian Brushturkey photo by Ken Wright) (Emu photo by Hayley Alexander)

[proton-wobbler]

Australian Brushturkey (Alectura lathami)

"They make huge piles of leaves and branches as nests. Once I saw a solitary male in a wildlife park and the keepers said he was really annoying because he kept re-arranging the leaf litter which made keeping the footpaths clean a huge pain lol!" "Small gardener-dinosaurs! And these guys are just out here existing with zero parental care."

"Despite its name and their superficial similarities, the bird is not closely related to American turkeys, nor to the Australian bustard, which is also known as the bush turkey."

Australian Brushturkey are a megapode found on the Eastern edge of Australia, typically living in rainforests or wet sclerophyll (eucalyptus-heavy) forests- though they've more recently been moving into cities such as Brisbane and Sydney.

As megapodes, the most unique feature of these birds is the way they incubate and "raise" their young- which is to say, they don't raise them at all! Megapodes are a family of birds that create mounds of rotting vegetation for their eggs to incubate within, much like crocodiles and alligators. The males will tirelessly defend their mounds, checking the temperature with their bills and doing their best to attract females to lay her eggs within. This is the only care they give their young, however. Brushturkey eggs are quite large, and their chicks are born precocial, or "fully developed". Unlike other precocial species, like chickens or ducks, megapode babies can fend for themselves within hours of hatching, and don't need parental guidance in order to make it in the world. Which is good news, since mom invests no care in her young and dad is only concerned with keeping his nest mound in perfect condition!

Sources:

Image Source: eBird (Chris Barnes)

[squawkoverflow]

A new variant has been added!

Wattled Brushturkey (Aepypodius arfakianus) © Mehd Halaouate

It hatches from bare, black, blue, difficult, dull, facial, female, large, male, maroon, other, pale, quiet, red, sharp, shy, and similar eggs.

squawkoverflow - the ultimate bird collecting game          🥚 hatch    ❤️ collect     🤝 connect

[mutant-distraction]

Australian brushturkey

[haveyouseenthisanimal-irl]

Range: Eastern Australia

[gallusrostromegalus]

brushturkeys are Such animals. one time I saw one carefully reconnoiter and then sneak up behind someone at the beach to open their half-zipped food bag and drag out a loaf of bread

That's DELIGHTFUL.

[herpsandbirds]

Hello, could I please request some pics of the humble Australian brush turkey? They're kind of an unofficial mascot of my city and I think they're neat!

Oh yes, this is an absolutely wonderful bird!!!

Australian Brushturkey aka Gweela (Alectura lathami), family Megapodidae, order Galliformes, Newington, NSW, Australia

photograph by JJ Harrison

Australian Brushturkey (Alectura lathami), male, family Megapodidae, order Galliformes, Australia

Photograph by Somnath Datta

Australian Brushturkey (Alectura lathami), family Megapodidae, order Galliformes, Eastern Australia

Photograph by Jan Wegener

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

how about 42, the answer to life, the universe, and everything?

Pegomastax

Huayangosaurus

Antarctopelta

Struthiosaurus

Anodontosaurus

Dryosaurus

Bolong

Velafrons

Saurolophus

Prenocephale

Leptoceratops

Medusaceratops

Kosmoceratops

Pantydraco

Isanosaurus

Rebbachisaurus

Cedarosaurus

Patagotitan

Nemegtosaurus

Alamosaurus

Pendraig

Rajasaurus

Irritator

Meraxes

Gualicho

Qianzhousaurus

Pelecanimimus

Mononykus

Gigantoraptor

Deinonychus

Serikornis

Cratonavis

Gobipteryx

Hongshanornis

Aepyornis

Australian Brushturkey

Black Crowned Crane

Ring-Billed Gull

Hoatzin

Goshawk

Heracles

Andean Cock-of-the-Rock

tadaaa

[jettjaguar]

Who’s up for a spiffing game of Tetherbagel? #brushturkey #brushturkeys (at Sydney, Australia) https://www.instagram.com/p/CqP79KgPZbM/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[voidbirds]

Second Roadtrip bird!

The Australian Brushturkey/gweela (Though we lovingly call them Bushturkeys)

These are a pretty common sight in Aussie caravan parks, I would say a vacation isn't complete if you don't see one.

[critter-of-the-day]

24th of July 2024: Australian Brushturkey

Here is a bird once described as an “enigmatic urban coloniser” [1]: the Australian Brushturkey (Alectura lathami). They’re one of Australia’s three megapodes and are 60-75 cm long [2]. 

Like many megapodes, they too do ground-nesting, brooding 50 eggs in a mound [2]. These mounds are prepared by the males, who may move up to 50 kg of earth daily to construct their nests [3], which are around 4m in diameter and 1 m high [2]. Once in place, Australian Brushturkeys follow a non-monogamous mating structure, wherein females will go from nest to nest to breed with the males and lay eggs in their mounds. This means the eggs of a previous male may end up in wrong nest, however it appears the males don’t really mind that much. In fact one male was even recorded taking over the mound of a deceased male without destroying any of the pre-existing eggs [4].

The male then broods the eggs for 49 days, maintaining a comfy temperature of around 35°C, using the heat given up by rotting plant matter [2]. Once the eggs hatch, the father fucks off and leaves the hatchlings to fend on their own. However, they are very mobile and can fly a few hours after hatching. In certain skills, such as ledge climbing they get worse as they age [3]. They also have innate responses to different types of predators, but this mostly seems to be connected to their size and positioning as opposed to recognising the specific animal (as cardboard controls also affected them similarly) [5].

After dispersing, Australian Brushturkey chicks prefer thicket to open forest, as these provide more cover to them [6]. In the night, they’ll go up high into the trees to roost [7]. Strangely enough though, in recent times they’ve been found more and more in urban settings, and while most seem to stay around the same area, some may travel up to 37 km, which would contradict the narrative of them being attached to specific sites and habitats [1].

Sources:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [Image]