The Australian brush-turkey can be frequently seen scratching around the gardens of Castaway Cove.

The brush-turkey is one of three Australian species of mound-building birds, or megapodes. The other two species are the mallee fowl and the orange-footed scrubfowl.

Also known as the scrub turkey and wild turkey Alectura lathami is a large indigenous bird which inhabits rainforest, including dry scrubs, from Cape York Peninsula south along the coast to about the Hawkesbury River in NSW. It is uncommon westwards of the Great Dividing Range. Despite losing a colossal amount of habitat since European settlement began, this interesting bird persists in southeast Queensland.

Whether building nesting mounds or just scratching around it is a common resident of many rainforest national parks and a well established component of the suburban ecology.

Brush-turkeys are descendants of birds once found in the ancient land mass of Gondwana. Their closest relatives now live only in Papua New Guinea and South America.

They are robust, dark brownish-black birds growing to an average size of 60-70cm body length with an upright fanlike tail and grey-edged breast feathers. They have strong legs and a naked deep red head and neck.

Sexes are easily distinguished: males have a redder head & neck and a distinguishing yellow wattle especially during breeding season; females are more drab and have no wattle.  Chicks don't look much like their parents, as they're small, plump birds with rich brown feathers.

They grow fast though, and within a few months a chick will have the dull blue-black plumage of the adult and the characteristic upright tail. Also, its head and neck will have become a featherless rich pink.

Brush-turkeys live in rainforests near the coast and in scrubs further inland. They spend most of their time on the ground but roost in trees at night.  Naturally shy in the bush, the bird becomes used to people when living in the suburbs, but spends most of its time alone.

While the bird may look slow while scratching among leaves looking for food, it can run  fast when disturbed and can fly short distances.  A quiet bird, the brush-turkey can sometimes be heard making soft grunts. Males have a deep three-noted booming call.
During the breeding season, male brush turkeys can reduce bush gardens to composting piles as they endeavour to make their nest.  Small plants and even irrigation systems are common casualties of this behaviour.  They can be a bit of a pest as they spread the garden mulch and leaf litter onto the Resort’s driveways and pathways for the Manager’s to clean-up !

They are omnivorous but the staple diet consists of forest fruits and seeds, insects and small invertebrates.  Adult birds feed throughout the day. Young birds forage for food in the pre-dawn light and in the twilight to avoid predators.

The male brush-turkey spends many hours building a nesting mound of decomposing vegetation, leaf litter and soil, adding or removing material to keep it at a constant temperature of 33deg.  A mound is usually about 2-4m across and 1m high. He will defend his mound and territory from other males and will only allow a female onto it when he thinks it's at the right temperature.  He will breed at any time, although concentrated from September to December.

The number of different females and the number of times they visit depends on his skill in keeping the mound at the right temperature, in which case females may return many times to mate and deposit up to 24 eggs in a season into holes about half a metre deep.  One mound may contain up to 150 eggs over a season.  Incubation is approximately 50 days.

The male keeps watch while the eggs incubate, making sure the temperature is just right and keeping any predators at bay.  Chicks have to fight their way out of the mound when they hatch, and are independent as soon as they get out.  Since brush-turkey chicks have to feed themselves, the chance of death is high. A bird's chance of survival to adulthood is as little as one in 200!

The Australian brush-turkey is common but is threatened by habitat destruction. Its preferred habitat of rainforest has largely disappeared from many areas in Queensland and is under continuing threat. Natural predators such as snakes, foxes, goannas, domestic cats and dogs, and in-ground swimming pools, all make life hard for young brush-turkeys.

Like almost all native Australian birds the brush-turkey is a protected species.

Maintenance of natural habitat and respect for the animal in urban areas is important if the brush-turkey is to continue to have a secure future in Queensland. In urban areas, the survival of the brush-turkey depends largely on the goodwill of householders.
Watching a brush-turkey build and take care of its nest is intriguing and can give people in the city and our international visitors an insight into the life of a unique Australian animal.