The Biak scrubfowl or Biak megapode (''Megapodius geelvinkianus'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

in the family

Megapodiidae The megapodes, also known as incubator birds or mound-builders, are stocky, medium-large, chicken-like birds with small heads and large feet in the family Megapodiidae. Their name literally means "large foot" and is a reference to the heavy legs ...

. It is found only on the islands of

Biak Biak is an island located in Cenderawasih Bay near the northern coast of Papua (province), Papua, an Indonesian province, and is just northwest of New Guinea. Biak is the largest island in its small archipelago, and has many atolls, reefs, and c ...

, Mios Korwar,

Numfor Numfor (also Numfoor, Noemfoor, Noemfoer) is one of the Schouten Islands (also known as the Biak Islands) in Papua province, northeastern Indonesia. It was the site of conflict between Japanese and the Allied forces during World War II, and was ...

, Manim and

Mios Num Mios Num (aka: Num, Indonesian language: ''Pulau Mios Num'') is an island of the Yapen Islands group, in Papua Province of Western New Guinea, northeastern Indonesia. It is in Cenderawasih Bay. The Mios Num Strait separates it from Yapen ...

in the West Papua region of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Description

This bird measures long. Its plumage is largely dark grey. It has a slight crest and a reddish or bluish face. Legs are red or dark grey.

Habitat

Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s are

subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Description TSMF is generally found in large, discont ...

and

subtropical or tropical moist shrubland The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical and climate zones to the north and south of the tropics. Geographically part of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, they cover the middle latitudes from to approximately 35° north and ...

. It is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

. Some taxonomists consider this to be a subspecies of the

dusky megapode The dusky megapode (''Megapodius freycinet''), also known as dusky scrubfowl or common megapode, is a medium-sized, approximately 41 cm (16 in) long, blackish bird with a short pointed crest, bare red facial skin, dark legs, brown irises, and a d ...

, others as a subspecies of the

orange-footed scrubfowl The orange-footed scrubfowl (''Megapodius reinwardt''), also known as orange-footed megapode or just scrubfowl is a small megapode of the family Megapodiidae. This species comprises five subspecies found on many islands in the Lesser Sunda Islan ...

, but is increasingly looked at as a distinct species.

References

External links

* * Biak scrubfowl Birds of the Schouten Islands Biak scrubfowl Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Galliformes-stub