BRUSH TURKEY NEST

Deb and Peter were leading a walk through the valley and were alerted by a member walking in the other direction. A sizeable area of the bush undergrowth between Illoura and Bray has been torn up and piled across the track. Vandalism was suspected. However the ‘vandal’ turned out to be a male Brush Turkey, busy at work building a nest and mostly too busy to take any notice of onlookers. The heap is close to passing walkers, so is vulnerable to bad or ignorant behaviour and walkers need to be aware of it and take care.

The male Brush Turkey is the one who builds the nest or incubation mound and controls the temperature via ongoing maintenance. A lot of time and effort goes into constructing a mound, and he will use his mound again and again in years to come. Brush-turkeys are both polygynous and polyandrous. Several females can visit the mound, often copulate with the male and periodically dig large holes in the mound to bury their eggs.

When they hatch, chicks are entirely left to their own devices and have to survive on their own, including having to dig their own way out of the mound.

This morning, Laura saw another Brush Turkey up the other end of the Valley. Wonder if she’s a female??