It is not uncommon at this time of year in SEQ to see turkey creches - in the
absence of parental supervision, the young turks like to form mutual support
groups. A couple of weeks ago, I was passing through the closest compatible
turkey habitat to the Brisbane GPO when I noticed a turkey chick confidently
scratching away. I stopped to watch it, and became aware that there was
another nearby, and another and another - there were 4 chicks, all a few days
old within a space of 10 metres. This was odd, as normally there is a bit of
an age gap between the chicks. In this case, the chicks were presumably laid
around the same time (I always thought females only laid one egg per mound
visit).
I passed through the same park today, the chicks had all survived and were
noticeably larger (though still with brown heads). However, their number had
swelled to 6 - by far the largest creche I have seen, and quite impressive for
a site that is two blocks from the GPO. Either the city predators are poor
hunters or the chicks are roosting in the trees.
Regards, Laurie.
<HR>
<BR> Birding-Aus mailing list
<BR>
<BR> To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
<BR> http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
</HR>
|
