Website design and all images and text copyright Stephanie Jackson 2011

Australian scrub / brush turkey Alectura lathami D620E - Forests and woodlands are the natural habitat of the Australian scrub turkey, which is also known as a brush turkey, but it's happy to make itself at home in large urban gardens too. The male bird constructs an immense mound of vegetation in which the female will ultimately lay her eggs, and when he starts work in a garden that provides him with all the material he requires, and that he scratches up with long, sharp claws, the welcome mat is hastily withdrawn. Once the male has begun the task of mound building, there's no way to discourage him, and gardeners honoured - or cursed - with the presence of scrub turkeys in their environment have to either learn to live with their new neighbours, or adapt their garden design in an attempt to counter the destruction that these birds inevitably cause. Photographed in the wild in the photographer's vast bushland garden in sub-tropical Queensland, Australia.