The Australian Brush Turkey is found all over the East Coast of Australia, from Far North Queensland to Southern New South Wales. It’s an ugly looking bird with a bald red head, a bright yellow wattle and a big flat tail that goes sideways.

We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in Australia, but I’ve heard that to cook them you put them in a pot of boiling water with a large rock and simmer for 12 hours. Then you throw away the turkey and eat the rock! In other words, they are as tough as old boots! I’ve yet to meet anyone who has tried them so perhaps the well-known recipe has put them off. 🙂

They make huge mounds of rotting vegetation to incubate their eggs and when I lived in Brisbane they built one of these under the old mango tree. It was massive!

Here’s some Brush Turkey Trivia for you – their chicks hatch fully feathered and can fly within a few hours. By the way, when they land on the roof of your house they make a heck of a noise.