Australian Brush-turkey (Alectura lathami) Fact Sheet: Behavior & Ecology

(Marchant and Higgins 1993, except as noted)

General

• Move between roost and foraging areas
• Most active at dawn and dusk
• Spend most time on the ground (Jones and Göth 2008)
  • Roost in high trees

Roosting

• Occurs year-round
• Roost during mid-day and at night
  • Usually in groups, sometimes alone
• During breeding, adult males roost near their mound

Breeding season

• Spend less time in daytime roosts
• Males
  • Spend most of the day at incubation mounds
  • Arrive at first light (before sunrise)
    • Females begin arriving at mounds about 30 minutes after sunrise (Jones 1988a)
  • Forage in the late morning, after females finish visiting mounds, and in the late afternoon
• Females
  • Spend most of the day foraging, evaluating mounds/mates, and egg-laying

Non-breeding season

• Both sexes forage for less than one hour after sunrise and for up to two hours before sunset
• Feed intermittently throughout the day

Home range

• Show fidelity to a home range (Jones and Göth 2008; Elliott and Kirwan 2017)
  • Do not migrate
• Males stay within a home range during successive years (Elliott and Kirwan 2017)
  • Home range is larger during breeding (Jones 1990a)
• Presence outside their normal home range probably due to escapes and illegal transactions (Elliott and Kirwan 2017)

Dispersal

• Some chicks move far in their first five days of life (Göth and Vogel 2003; Jones and Göth 2008)
  • Able to fly farther than adults
  • On average, move 100-200 m (328-650 ft) (range: 5-800 m [3 ft-0.5 mi])
    • Chicks that move far are likely searching for habitats with dense vegetation that provides cover

General

• Solitary or found in groups (Marchant and Higgins 1993)
  • Depends on age, activity, time of day, and season (Marchant and Higgins 1993)
  • Young birds usually solitary (Marchant and Higgins 1993)
  • Adults typically solitary while foraging (Jones et al. 1995)
• Formation of groups
  • Individuals of similar age and size may form groups (Marchant and Higgins 1993)
  • Females may also form small, female-only groups (Göth and Astheimer 2006)
  • Adults may congregate where food is abundant (Jones et al. 1995)
  • Largest groups (15-30 individuals) observed during nighttime roosting (Marchant and Higgins 1993)
• Aggressive interactions
  • Common, especially during breeding (Marchant and Higgins 1993; Wells et al. 2014)
  • See Agonistic Behavior and Defense

Young brush-turkeys

• Chick behavior
  • At first, solitary (Jones et al. 1995)
    • Do not join communal roosts (Marchant and Higgins 1993)
  • Join social groups within a few weeks (Jones et al. 1995)
• Chicks do not depend on each other for survival (Barry and Göth 2006)
  • May aggregate around food or shelter resources
• Social behaviors are present from the time of hatching (Göth and Jones 2003)
  • Not learned from adults or other chicks (Göth and Jones 2003; Göth and Evans 2005)
  • Chicks exhibit all the behaviors of adults, except for reproductive behaviors (Göth and Jones 2003)
• Juveniles
  • Associate with each other during the first few months of life (Jones et al. 1995)

Behavior of adults: non-breeding season

• Congregate in trees used for mid-day resting (Jones et al. 1995)
• At night, join communal roosts (Jones et al. 1995)
  • Males attempt to displace each other from roost sites

Behavior of adults: breeding season

• Males
  • Mainly interact with brush-turkeys that approach the mound (Jones et al. 1995)
  • At night, roost near the mound(s) they maintain (Jones et al. 1995)
  • Conspicuous wattle used during social interactions (Jones and Göth 2008)
    • In establishing dominance, dominant males extend their wattles and subordinate males retract their wattles
  • Jones et al. (1995) state that breeding males form relatively linear hierarchies
    • Additional research needed
• Females (Marchant and Higgins 1993)
  • Solitary when visiting mounds
  • Roost with other Brush-turkeys, near the mound they are visiting (Jones et al. 1995)

Visual communication

• Use bright neck wattle and tail in social displays (Marchant and Higgins 1993)
  • Neck wattle expands during aggressive signaling
    • Stretch/retract neck to expose more/less of wattle coloration
  • Spread or fold tail when disturbed or in dominance confrontations
• Wing postures (Marchant and Higgins 1993)
  • Wings held close to body when relaxed
  • Wings held out when aggressive and down when submissive
    • These postures used in some courtship displays
• Role of UV reflectance (Göth and Evans 2004; Jones and Göth 2008)
  • UV light reflects off the legs, beaks, and wattles of Brush-turkeys
  • Not well-studied
  • Possibly provides a channel of “private” communication
    • May be seen as a “glow” in shady, forest habitat
    • Might prevent detection by predators
      • Vocalizations are easily detected by mammalian predators, but most do not see UV wavelengths
  • Chicks respond to short wavelength light reflected off the legs—and to a lesser extent—the beak of another chick

Vocalizations

• Adults
  • “Boom” call (Jones et al. 1995; Elliott and Kirwan 2017, except as noted)
    • Only made by adult male
    • Stance and sound production
      • Male stands with head lowered and bill pointed toward the ground (Jones and Göth 2008)
      • Inflates large wattle (hanging neck skin) and forces air out through nostrils
    • Characteristics
      • Varies in complexity
        • Monosyllabic: oom
        • Bisyllabic: oo-oom
        • Older males may give longer booms of 5-6 syllables
      • Can be repeated several times in a minute
        • Rarely more than 20 calls per morning
    • Contexts
      • At the mound, except in the presence of females
        • Used to advertise to females and deter rival males
      • During aggressive contests for food and dominance
      • At roosts
  • Low, deep, gulping sound (Jones and Göth 2008; Elliott and Kirwan 2017)
    • Contact call used by males and females, usually near a mound
  • Rapid, repetitive call (Jones and Göth 2008)
    • Produced when disturbed
  • High-pitched “scream” (Elliott and Kirwan 2017)
    • Only made in distress, when caught (by a predator or human)
    • Bill is held open when producing this vocalization
• Chicks and juveniles (Jones et al. 1995; Göth and Jones 2003; Elliott and Kirwan 2017, except as noted)
  • Sounds limited to a few soft grunts
  • Chicks
    • Visually scan their environment more often when hear other chicks calling (Göth and Evans 2004)
      • Do not return calls of conspecifics
    • Call more frequently after two weeks’ of age (Barry and Göth 2006)
  • First-year males
    • Incapable of booming
      • Neck wattle needs to develop first

Defense

• Escape from predators
  • Adults have strong legs to run from predators (Jones and Göth 2008; Dial and Jackson 2011)
  • If grabbed by its long tail, a Brush-turkey can shed all of its tail feathers, almost instantly (Jones and Göth 2008)
    • Similar to the tail-shedding ability of some lizards
• Courtship aggression
  • Female shields her head and body with a wing when a male pecks at her (Jones et al. 1995)
• Chicks (Göth 2001)
  • Crouch and freeze, or run for cover
  • May react to songbird alarm calls

Aggression

• Food competition
  • Both sexes show aggression when foraging in groups (Marchant and Higgins 1993)
• Males
  • Show aggression throughout the year (Marchant and Higgins 1993)
  • Most aggressive during the breeding season (Marchant and Higgins 1993)
    • Defend mounds, but not territories (Jones et al. 1995)
  • Behaviors (Jones et al. 1995)
    • Commonly chase, peck, bite, and charge opponent
    • Rarely fight
    • Boom vocalization
      • Produced with neck wattle expanded
      • Appears to be a status symbol
• Females
  • During breeding, show aggression to each other at mounds (Jones et al. 1995), except while laying (Marchant and Higgins 1993)
  • Variation in behaviors
    • Some may be tolerant of other females, some chase and fight violently
    • Chase behavior is common
    • Fights are less common
      • Female leaps upon rival and scratches with feet

For detailed descriptions of behaviors, see Marchant and Higgins (1993).

Dust bathing

• While squatting, scratch dirt with powerful feet and lean from side to side (Dow 1988a)
  • May aid the molting of feathers or reduce parasite loads

Sunbathing

• Lay on side and extend wings to gather the sun’s rays (Dow 1988a)

Mound building

• Male builds and maintains an incubation mound (Jones and Göth 2008, and as noted)
  • Leaf litter, seeds, and fruits accumulate in the mound
    • May have a profound effect on forest structure and nutrient transport (Jones 1988b)
  • Surrounding area becomes bare
  • For more detail, see Courtship and Incubation Mounds

Feral pigs

(Natusch et al. 2017)

• Avoided by Australian Brush-turkeys
• When pigs leave a foraging area, Brush-turkeys move in to procure exposed food items
  • Compete with other bird species (e.g., cockatoos and doves) for newly exposed food

Invasive cane toads

• Some predators of Australian Brush-turkeys (e.g., monitor lizards) are poisoned by these toads (Jolly et al. 2015)
  • Brush-turkey populations increase due to lower predation pressure

Relationship with humans

• In some areas, interactions with humans are rare
  • Brush-turkeys are shy; avoid people (Jones and Göth 2008)
  • Challenging to spot, despite large body and colorful head and neck (Jones and Göth 2008)
    • More easily detected by listening for sounds of scratching in leaf litter or while building incubation mounds
• In other areas, interact with humans frequently
  • Commonly encountered on the East Coast of Australia (Jones and Göth 2008)
  • Become habituated to humans near urban areas (Warnken et al. 2004; Jones and Göth 2008)
    • Encountered in picnic areas, campgrounds, and other suburban areas (Jones and Göth 2008)
    • Scavenge for food scraps
  • Frequently hand-fed (Warnken et al. 2004)
    • May solicit food from humans
    • Brush-turkey densities increase when fed by people
      • Trampling results in damage to vegetation and soil
  • In some places, cause considerable damage to gardens (Göth et al. 2006; Jones and Göth 2008)
    • May enter gardens looking for food (e.g., pet food, compost scraps) and then decide to stay for breeding
    • Mound-building denudes topsoil and may prevent the growth of young plants
  • May cause damage to orchards by damaging plant root systems and eating fruits (Hopkins 1972; Marchant and Higgins 1993)
• Also see Threats to Survival

Running

• Adults mainly use their powerful legs to outrun predators (Dial and Jackson 2011)
  • May use wings to make brief escape flights
• Chicks run fast and fly (Jones and Göth 2008)
  • Spread their large wings as they run (Dial and Jackson 2011)
  • Speed and lift allow them to make vertical climbs (Dial and Jackson 2011)
  • Behavior used to navigate environment or reach the safety of high places (earth mound, tree branch, boulder, cliff) (Jones and Göth 2008)

Flying

• Hatchlings able to fly on first day following emergence (Jones and Göth 2008)
• Young birds capable of flying longer distances than adults (Jones and Göth 2008)

With long legs, adult Brush-turkeys can outrun most predators.

If a predator grabs its tail, a Brush-turkey can escape by shedding all of its tail feathers, almost instantly.

Image credit: © Jim Bendon via Flickr. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareALike License 2.0. Some rights reserved.