Brush Turkey

["Paul Doyle" <>]

Thanks to all who responded re. the Brush Turkey in Como.

I would guess that it’s more likely to be a Northward advance from the Illawarra, rather than part of the Southerly advance from the North shore: I just don’t think there’s enough continuous bushland from the harbour to Como to facilitate that advance.

There is however continuous bush reserves from my place at Como all the way to Wollongong.

Re. foxes: ironically we seem to be having more foxes than ever around here, so I don’t think they’re taking advantage of any drop in fox number.

Re. mulch: funny enough, I have just cleared many years of growth of weeds from my block ((privet, lantana etc) and I have been mulching and planting natives. We’ll see how that goes.

 

Regards,

Paul

 

 

From: Ross Macfarlane (TPG) <>
Sent: Sunday, 7 June 2020 8:52 PM
To: 'Tom Wilson' <>; 'Paul Doyle' <>;
Subject: RE: [Birding-Aus] Brush Turkey

 

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 <m("optusnet.com.au","paulodoyle");">>; m("birding-aus.org","birding-aus");">
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: m("birding-aus.org","birding-aus");">

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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