Hi Syd,
We have just moved to a spot between Byron and the Gold Coast and we have a
mound about 10m away from our back door. Mr Turk (I call him Testosteronus
maximus due to the size of his wattles) has been actively excavating and
renovating it since we arrived. He catapults stuff all over the place,
sometimes with such vigour that he sends stuff flying around 2m into the air.
I have, however, noticed a couple of odd bits of behaviour which I hope some of
you can assist with (especially since I am a philistine of Scrub Turkey
activities).
1. As I was unpacking boxes, I sat on the back step watching Test do his thing
while I ate an apple. He dropped everything and came tearing over to me so
obviously the previous tenants have been feeding him. I gave him a tiny piece
of apple (I know I shouldn't do this - sorry!) and he did something really
strange. To eat it, he splayed his entire body out on the ground with his
wings out and wattles resting while he ate. Is this normal?
2. Do Scrub Turkeys also mate for life?
3. There is a female hanging around but he chases her around relentlessly,
especially if she goes anywhere near his construction work.
4. Is there a likelihood we'll have a family out the back?
Any thoughts or input from Scrub Turkey experts would be appreciated.
Cheers,
Inger
Inger Vandyke
Natural History Writer and Photographer
Publicity Officer - Southern Oceans Seabird Study Association (SOSSA)
Mob: 0402 286 437
www.ingervandyke.com
> Date: Sun, 20 Jul 2008 17:47:34 +1000
> From:
> To:
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] A Scrub Turkey anecdote
>
>
> WARNING: Long posting. Delete now if not interested in Megapodes.
>
> -------------
>
> [Tamborine Mountain is inland from the Gold Coast. St Bernard's Hotel and
> the associated Mt Tamborine Motel are towards the southern end of the
> plateau.]
>
> No accounting for Scrub Turkeys! St Bernard's Hotel is built just back from
> the steep drop over the side of the plateau. The motel runs lengthways
> parallel to the scarp, just to the west of the Hotel. There's a swimming
> pool beside the motel on the side away from the scarp, and a gap,
> bitumen-sealed, that would be just wide enough to get a small car along
> between the end of the Motel/pool and a high netting (chain-wire) fence.
> Rainforest trees just the other side of the fence.
>
> One approaches the motel from the south and there's a large sealed area
> serving as parking space for the motel and overflow parking for the Pub.
> In the south-west corner of it, there's a "garden" bed, about 5 m wide,
> along the fence, with a couple of trees in it. And at the top (motel) end
> of it Turk has built his mound.
>
> Now there's not much in the way of leaves to be gathered from a treeless
> sealed area. And you can't rake leaves through a netting fence. So where
> does Turk get his mound material? From the garden along the edge of the
> scarp on the far side of the motel. He has to move the material 50 m along
> the sealed path. Amazing!
>
> At first sight, it looked to me as though the hotel groundsman had made a
> dump of leaves etc., but then I found Turk on top of it and there could be
> no doubt it was his doing. And I wondered where he could have got the
> material. Didn't occur to me that he would consider getting it from beyond
> the motel ... and then I found him vigorously hurling leaf-mould out of the
> garden onto the lawn in front of our unit. And later I noted that the mound
> had a lot of the very distinctive 'ferny' leaves of the Silky Oak and the
> only Silky Oak tree is right on the edge of the scarp.
>
> When we arrived Thursday lunch-time the path was clean and bare. By the
> time we left, (Sat. morning) the scarp end of it of was a mess again. Poor
> Chris. I quizzed him this morning, and yes, he'd swept the path clean
> Thursday morning. I hope whenever he does, that he adds it to the mound.
> (Chris and Vicki Howe operate the motel.)
>
> Amazingly vigorous 'raking' that bird has. He simply hurls material back
> behind him. And if it contains any dense object it will fly through the air
> for three to five metres!
>
> Seemed to me to be a bit early (mid-July) for an active mound, but he was
> right into it; fully developed wattles and all.
>
> Cheers.
>
> Syd
>
> [BTW - Whipbird calling just through the netting fence. And in previous
> years I've heard Albert's Lyrebirds in the valley below the cliff. Didn't
> check this year.
>
> Oh yes! And the Hotel does have a real St Bernard dog. He's HUGE!!!]
> ===============================
> www.birding-aus.org
> birding-aus.blogspot.com
>
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
> send the message:
> unsubscribe
> (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> to:
> ===============================
_________________________________________________________________
Are you paid what you're worth? Find out: SEEK Salary Centre
http://a.ninemsn.com.au/b.aspx?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fninemsn%2Eseek%2Ecom%2Eau%2Fcareer%2Dresources%2Fsalary%2Dcentre%2F%3Ftracking%3Dsk%3Ahet%3Asc%3Anine%3A0%3Ahot%3Atext&_t=764565661&_r=OCT07_endtext_salary&_m=EXT==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
=============================
|
