Conservation status: Listed as Least Concern in the IUCN Red List. It’s not listed as a threatened species under the EPBC Act.

With a bald red head covered with sparse black hair and dangling yellow wattle (the wrinkly, fleshy lobe that hangs down from its neck), the brush-turkey is not much of a looker. This mound-building bird was nearly hunted to extinction by the 1930s but has slowly grown in numbers since all native species became nationally protected in the 1970s.

One of the messiest eaters in the forest, the brush-turkey breaks open rotten logs with its feet in search of insects, seeds and fallen fruit after racking through leaf litter.

It’s the largest bird in Australia’s megapode family and a totem animal for many First Nations peoples, such as the Arakwal and Gamilaraay (also known as Gomeroi or Kamilaroi) peoples.

It’s difficult to tell males and females apart during the non-breeding season, although females tend to be slightly smaller than males. During breeding season, a male’s wattle becomes brighter and droops low and loose.

Habitat
The Australian brush-turkey typically lives in rainforests and wet sclerophyll forests but is found in drier scrubs. In recent decades, populations have exploded in urban and suburban areas across eastern Australia.

Distribution
Its range stretches from Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula south to the Illawarra regions of New South Wales.

Reproduction
Males attract mates by building large mounds – approximately 4m long and 1m high – from soil and leaf litter to incubate eggs. Males usually begin constructing these mounds around August. Several females will lay eggs inside the mound, then leave. It’s the male’s job to protect these eggs from predators such as goannas during their approximately 50-day incubation period. Males gauge the mound’s temperature by scratching holes on the surface and dipping his bill inside.

He will add and remove leaf litter as needed, to ensure the mound stays at an optimal temperature (between 33–38℃). Amazingly, scientific literature reveals temperature also impacts the sex ratios of chicks, with slightly warmer temperatures producing more females than males.

Once the chicks hatch, the male, too, disappears and the chicks are left to fend for themselves. They can fly a few hours after emerging from their egg. Chicks are fully feathered, can walk and are able to fly a few hours after hatching.

Threats
Habitat loss and fragmentation are currently the biggest threat to brush-turkeys. Brush-turkeys (especially chicks) are also impacted by predation from feral species such as cats and dogs.

Fascinating fact
Brush-turkeys can escape a would-be predator by instantly shedding all its tail feathers if grabbed from behind, similar to a lizard dropping its tail. Male brush-turkeys can change the size of its wattle by ‘inflating’ or ‘deflating’ (retracting) the skin.

Read Next

Cathy’s moment

Twenty-five years ago, Cathy Freeman won gold at the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics in a performance that became a lasting symbol of national pride and reconciliation.

Australian astronomy at a crossroads

Little more than 50 years ago, Australian and British astronomers dazzled the world with their newly commissioned Anglo-Australian Telescope on Gamilaraay Country in north-western NSW.

Chasing gold

Wildlife photographer and videographer Jack Evershed spent a whole winter tracking the elusive golden swamp wallaby – a rare marsupial that looks like it belongs in a fairytale. His results are gold.