The dreaded Bush Turkey, or Brush or Scrub Turkey, lives in the back of our garden.  It is a very common bird in the western suburbs of Brisbane, and builds a huge mound to incubate his eggs.  Yes, HIS eggs.  After attracting the female to lay her eggs, the male looks after the mound, checking the temperature daily, and adding mulch or raking stuff off, depending on the heat generated.  Our backyard mound is about 5 metres across or 15 feet, and about 1.5metres high, or 4 feet.

The chicks emerge at night, and the breeding season is around March, and as the Bush Turkey is a crescupular bird (meaning forages pre-dawn, late twilight) all you hear in bed in the morning is SCRATCH! SCRATCH! SCRATCH!.....knowing that damm bird is raking MY garden! 

You can hose it, chase it, shout at it, throw whatever at it....but still rakes, scratches, rakes until dusk.  The only thing is to actually transport it to another home, but the National Parks and Wildlife won't do this because the 'poor bird might not survive the removal and adaptation to its new environment!' Sheesh!   Sometimes I could scream with frustration, as the Bush Turkey rakes up my garden, pulling out newly planted seedlings, and ripping up the more established plants searching for worms etc. 

This year I have three of them in my back garden. (sob*)

Back to Webcam and hurry!