Australian brush-turkey

Alectura lathami

Photo by J.J. Harrison (Wikipedia)

Common name:
Australian brush-turkey (en); perú-do-mato-australiano (pt); talégalle de Latham (fr); talégalo cabecirrojo (es); buschhuhn (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Galliformes
Family Megapodiidae

Range:
This species is endemic to eastern Australia, being found from Cape York Peninsula to eastern New South Wales.

Size:
These birds are 60-75 cm long and have a wingspan of 85 cm. They weigh 2-2,5 kg.

Habitat:
They are mostly found in rainforests and wet sclerophyll forests, but also use dry savannas and scrublands, and occasionally even rural and urban areas.

Diet:
They forge mainly on the ground, taking insects, seeds and fallen fruits, but can also take ripe fruits from tree branches.

Breeding:
Australian brush-turkeys are polygynous. Each male builds a large mound of organic matter up to 4 m in diameter and 1 m high, where several females will lay up to 50 eggs. The eggs are incubated by the heat given off by the rotting vegetation of the mound, while the male maintains a constant temperature of 33-38°C by digging holes in the mound and inserting his bill to check the heat, then adding and removing vegetable matter as required. The chicks hatch after about 50 days and are immediately independent, remarkably being able to fly within hours of hatching.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a large breeding range and is described as common and widespread. The population is declining owing to habitat destruction and fragmentation, but the Australian brush-turkey is not considered threatened.

Mallefowl

Leipoa ocellata

Photo by Edward Smith (Internet Bird Collection)

Common name:
malleefowl (en); faisão-australiano (pt); léipoa ocellé (fr); talégalo leipoa (es); thermometerhuhn (de)


Taxonomy:
Order Galliformes
Family Megapodiidae


Range:
The mallefowl is endemic to Australia. It was formerly widespread throughout the country, but is now restricted to the southern half of the country, where it is patchly distributed from Western Australia to New South Wales.


Size:
These birds are 60 cm long and weigh 1,5-2,5 kg.


Habitat:
They are found in semi-arid to arid scrublands and woodlands dominated by mallee Eucalyptus and Acacia. They require a sandy substrate and abundance of leaf-litter for breeding.


Diet:
The malleefowl is a generalist forager, mainly eating seeds, but also flowers, fruits and foliage, invertebrates such as ants, beetles and cockroaches, lerp, fungi and tubers.


Breeding:
These birds are monogamous and breed almost all year round. The male builds the nest, a large mound of sand or soil and leaf litter, twigs and bark, 5 m wide and over 1m high, where the female buries 3-35 pink eggs. The eggs are incubated by the warm temperature of the mound, which receives constant attention by the male adding or removing material to ensure the temperature is perfect. The eggs hatch after 49-96 and the chicks receive no parental care after hatching and are capable of flying and feeding themselves within 24 hours of their emergence from the mound.


Conservation:
IUCN status - VU (Vulnerable)
This species has a very large, but patchy, breeding range. The global population is estimated at 100.000 individuals and is suspected to be declining at a rate of 30-49% over the last 45 years. The malleefowl is mainly threatened by habitat loss due to agricultural expansion and wildfires, predation of young birds by introduced red foxes Vulpes vulpes and wild dogs and low food availability due to plant harvesting and intensive grazing by introduced herbivores such as goats and sheep. Introduction of exotic weeds, the use of agricultural chemicals and road kills may also pose a threat to the species.

Orange-footed scrubfowl

Megapodius reinwardt

Photo by Toby Hudson (Wikipedia)

Common name:

orange-footed scrubfowl (en); megápode de Reinwardt (pt); mégapode de Reinwardt (fr); talégala de Reinwardt (es); Reinwardthunhn (de)

Taxonomy:

Order Galliformes

Family Megapodiidae

Range:

This species occurs in southern New Guinea, in northern Australia and in some of the islands of Wallacea.

Size:

The orange-footed scrubfowl is 35-47 cm long. Males weigh 850-1200 g and females weigh 560-1200 g.

Habitat:

This species occurs in a range of habitats from sea-level to 1800 m, including lowland and mountain rainforest, swamp forest, mangroves, and more arid bushy or wooded areas near the coast. It is typically more frequent at lower altitudes and seems to adapt well to secondary scrub.

Diet:

The orange-footed scrubfowl feeds on seeds, fallen fruit and terrestrial invertebrates.

Breeding:

Both parents build a very large incubation mound of decaying vegetable matter. These mounds can be up to 12 m across and 3,5 m high. Heat generated by the decaying humus provides the heat source for the incubation of the eggs. No parental care is provided for the chicks, who look after themselves entirely and are capable of flight shortly after digging themselves out of the incubation mound.

Conservation:

IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)

With a population of 100.000 to 1.000.000 and a very large breeding range, this species is not considered threatened at present.