With their black feathers, bright head colours and large size, the brush turkey can make an impressive sight. And it can also be a bit of a nuisance, especially for people planting gardens.
That’s because the males rake up enormous leafy mounds for the females to lay their eggs and your garden could be providing just the mulch they need, especially if there’s a shady tree to build it under.
The turkeys – also called Bush or Scrub Turkeys - are found only in Australia, along the eastern edge from the Illawarra region south of Sydney right up to Cape York on the tip of Queensland and inland to Narrabri in NSW and Upper Dawson in Queensland.
During the Great Depression of the early 1930s the birds were nearly wiped out because people were using them for meat and eggs. However, they are now protected under conservation laws and numbers are recovering to such an extent that scientists have joked about a ‘Turkey Tsunami’ spreading in urban areas.
Once the males have built the leaf mounds, females lay their eggs inside the pile from August through to February with sometimes up to 20 eggs. The male, meanwhile, keeps the mound temperature at about 34 degrees by shifting compost around while the eggs incubate.
It is illegal to damage or destroy eggs during the breeding season though it is possible to deter the male from building the mound or dismantle it before females have a chance to lay their eggs.
Once a male brush turkey has started to build its mound, it is extremely difficult to stop it. If a mound has been established for several weeks and the male is maintaining it, you should wait 60 days to allow eggs to hatch and young to emerge before dispersing it.
Some options for gardeners to deter nesting:
- At the first sign of a male building a mound, spray it with a burst of water from a sprinkler, a hose or a spray bottle, aiming only for the chest. Never try to harm the bird. It’s also recommended to try to hide from its view so the bird becomes wary of the place, not the person. (Do not continually squirt or chase the bird as this is considered harassment.)
- Make another area in your garden that is more suitable to entice the turkey to build with an open compost or pile of grass clippings – preferably near a tree to provide shade.
- Install a bird net over bamboo or wooden stakes to stop the turkey raking over your vegetable garden or put gravel and rocks in the ground around plants.
- Consider raised garden beds or shade cloth fencing.
- Remove or cover potential food sources such as compost heaps
- Reduce the availability for building material for the mounds
If you haven’t successfully deterred the turkey, once the eggs have hatched it is permissible to dismantle the mound and the compost from inside can be used on your garden.
You could also ask the National Parks service whether another location could be found with service staff moving the eggs there.
Article by Geraldine O'Brien
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