Bruijn’s brush turkey photographed for the first time in Waigeo, Indonesia

This is a video of an Australian brush turkey at a bird feeder.

From Wildlife Extra:

Bruijn’s brush turkey photographed for the first time

Bird watchers on a Papua Expeditions exploratory bird tour to Mount Danai on the Indonesian island of Waigeo have taken the first photographs in the wild of the endemic Bruijn’s Brush-turkey, a unique species of megapode which remained entirely unknown in the living world during more than 120 years between its formal description from trade skins in 1880 and its field discovery by Papua Expeditions (PE) resident birder Iwein Mauro on nearby Mount Nok in May 2002.

Early in April 2007 PE resident birders Iwein Mauro and Zeth Wonggor, and British bird watcher Charles Davies watched a fine adult male brush-turkey persistently displaying from atop its nest mound just four meters away from their hide in ridgetop cloud-forest on Mount Danai. The group also repeatedly watched a soliciting female visiting the mound while the male was away. …

Iwein Mauro, said: ‘The ascertainment that a population of Bruijn’s Brush-turkey exists on Mount Danai is perhaps the single-most significant step forward in our understanding of the species conservation status and needs.’

He added ‘Mount Danai alone is believed to contain 60% of cloud-forest habitat on Waigeo and up to 65% of the world population of this remarkable brush-turkey. Moreover, it is a virtually untouched, trackless wilderness area that is apparently rarely, if ever, visited by local communities even. Clearly, the area is of utmost importance to the long-term survival of this species as well as other Waigeo and regionally endemic birdlife.’ …

In addition to securing the first photographs in the wild of Bruijn’s Brush-turkey, the birding group confirmed the presence on Mount Danai of all Waigeo endemic and near-endemic birdlife, plus a host of new island records already obtained by Mauro on nearby Mounts Nok and Sau Lal in 2002. Among the latter category are healthy populations of Wallace’s Owlet-Nightjar and Beccari’s Scrubwren, whose exact taxonomic affinities still require further elucidation.

To see the full information about the Bruijn’s Bush-turkey photographs, please click here.

American wild turkey: here.