The first thing you have to do is to clear your mind of any Turkey you are familiar with, because very few of their characteristics are similar to the Brush Turkey. Once upon a time the Turkey enjoyed the rainforest habitat bordering the Brisbane river. However, land development and prestige housing forced him out. The Brush Turkey though is making a comeback. He is a fully protected species by law At one time you would only see him in rainforest. Now you are liable to encounter him in many suburbs, especially his old stamping ground along the river. Now when the male turkey decides to build a nest. He builds a large economy size measuring about 4 metres across by 1metre high ( or 13 feet by 3 feet)
Yes! You did read that correctly. Only the male does the building , scratching up this mound of litter and testing the temperature inside with his head. If it’s too high he will remove some of the litter. Now as all that litter comes from within your garden you can well understand why he is not welcome especially if the site chosen is your rose garden “The imaginary conversation from the householder would go something like “Oh its Celia calling, Darling. I’m afraid our weekly tennis game is cancelled for the week because some beastly birds have decided to build a nest on the court, but we will soon get rid of him”. That’s what she thinks, because the bird is very determined. Some one suggested laying down wire netting. The bird buried it under leaf litter. Someone else suggested laying motor tyres. The bird incorporated them so that his nest could be the first mound to be sponsored by Dunlop. If any one has thoughts of eating him at this point I would suggest that the tyres would be more tender and palatable Another fool proof suggestion was to hang mirrors around the base of the nest. Undeterred the bird carried on with his task whilst admiring his image at every opportunity. The most outlandish suggestion was the hint by a newspaper journalist that the way to discourage them was to urinate around the mound. Now whether he was arrested for indecent exposure I cannot say, because I never read of his existence again. Now all the time this mound is building the hen will inspect it every so often until she is satisfied with its incubation capability and then she will lay an egg every two or three days until there are about 2 dozen within the mound and then she will trot off without a backward glance until next season. The male will hang around to discourage and disturbance by lizard etc and after 50 days the chicks will emerge. They are completely independent and disappear into the surrounding vegetation. Of course not many of the two dozen will make it to adult hood but enough to dig up Celia’s tennis court in the future