Brush Turkey

["Ross Macfarlane \(TPG\)" <>]

We had Prof Darryl Jones as a speaker at the National Malleefowl Forum in Katanning WA in 2007. He explained that up until around 1970 there was an open season on brush-turkeys in Queensland and they were very shy. After they were made a protected species their numbers exploded and they began to expand their range south. Historically I believe there are records on the NSW South Coast in the late 19^th Century.

 

I read an article saying brush-turkeys were blamed for the spread of prickly pear which may have been 1 of the reasons there was an open season on them. If I recall its more probable they followed its spread rather than being the vector for its spread. But as a result of it there is / was an isolated population of brush-turkeys west of the Great Dividing Range in southeast Queensland.

 

All of this is from memory so I stand to be corrected.

 

Cheers,

Ross Macfarlane

 

From: Birding-Aus <> On Behalf Of Tom Wilson
Sent: Sunday, 7 June 2020 6:03 PM
To: Paul Doyle <>;
Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Brush Turkey

 

Hi Paul

They have been persistently pushing southwards through Sydney (back into their ancestral range) for some years now, which I reckon is due to fox control as much as anything else.  But I think there was always an isolated population on the Illawarra – whether yours is part of the southerly push or has come slightly north is harder to say.  If you have recently mulched your garden, what I will say is...unlucky...it’ll all end up in some egg laying mound.

Cheers

Tom Wilson

 

From: Paul Doyle

Sent: Sunday, June 7, 2020 5:00 PM

To:

Subject: [Birding-Aus] Brush Turkey

 

Hi all,

Just found a Brush Turkey in my garden at Como on the Woronora River, South of Sydney this afternoon.

I had no idea they had got this far South.

 

Paul

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