Australian Brushturkey

Busch chicken ( Alectura lathami )

The Busch chicken ( Alectura lathami ) is a native Australian Großfußhuhn with turkey -like appearance.

Features

The 60 to 75 cm long bush chicken has a wingspan of 85 cm and is the largest Großfußhuhn - kind in Australia. The plumage is mostly black in color, the underside is speckled white. The red head is featherless. The yellow or blue-gray throat swells in the male during the mating season. Further features are the long legs and the tail flattened laterally.

Occurrence

The range extends from Queensland south almost to Sydney. The Bush Chicken lives in rainforests and in the bush, in the north at higher altitudes and in the south and in lowland areas.

Behavior

The Flight of the bush chicken is cumbersome. The night and the time of the midday sun spends it in the trees. For food include seeds, fruits and invertebrates. The Bush Chicken is a gregarious bird and lives in groups, typically consisting of a dominant male, several younger males and several females.

Reproduction

The male shuffles his feet foliage to create a one meter high pile with four meters in diameter together. In this bunch of sets from September to March, a female 16-24 large white eggs, or several females up to 50 eggs. These are deeply buried 60-80 cm at a distance of 20-30 cm with the thick end up. Due to the rotting of the leaves Bebrütungswärme is emitted. The male controls the incubation temperature by adding or removing plant material in the range of 33 to 35 ° C. Immediately after hatching, the chicks have to dig through the pile to the outside. After a few hours they can run and fly. Many, however, fall predators such as lizards and snakes prey. The eggs are food for lizards, snails, dingoes and dogs. Often lizards show the tail wounds, have struck in defense of their nest, the bush chickens.