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Turkey Creche

To: Birding Aus <>
Subject: Turkey Creche
From: Laurie Knight <>
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 2016 12:11:09 +0000
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.
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