The orange-footed scrubfowl (''Megapodius reinwardt''), also known as orange-footed megapode or just scrubfowl is a small

megapode 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 ...

of the family Megapodiidae. This species comprises five subspecies found on many islands in the

Lesser Sunda Islands The Lesser Sunda Islands or nowadays known as Nusa Tenggara Islands ( id, Kepulauan Nusa Tenggara, formerly ) are an archipelago in Maritime Southeast Asia, north of Australia. Together with the Greater Sunda Islands to the west they make up t ...

as well as southern

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

and northern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It is a terrestrial bird the size of a domestic chicken and dark-coloured with strong orange legs and a pointed crest at the back of the head. It utilises a range of forest and scrub habitats and has colonised many small islands throughout its range. It is prolific in suburban Darwin gardens, where people refer to it as a bush chook or bush turkey. In general, populations seem to be stable and the conservation status of the species is considered to be of

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

The orange-footed scrubfowl feeds on seeds, fallen fruit and terrestrial invertebrates. As with other megapodes, it nests in large mounds of sand, leaf litter and other debris where the heat generated by the decomposition of organic material serves to incubate the eggs. Construction and maintenance of the mounds, which may reach in height and in diameter, takes place throughout the year. Some of the subspecies may be treated as full species, such as the Tanimbar scrubfowl (''Megapodius tenimberensis''), while other subspecies may be considered subspecies of other species (e.g., ''M. r. buruensis'' is sometimes considered 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 ...

In Aboriginal language and culture

The

Kunwinjku people The Kunwinjku (formerly written Gunwinggu) people are an Australian Aboriginal people, one of several groups within the Bininj people, who live around West Arnhem Land to the east of Darwin, Northern Territory. Kunwinjku people generally refer t ...

of west Arnhem Land know this bird as kurrukurldanj.

References

* Jones, Darryl N.; Dekker, Rene W.R.J.; & Roselaar, Cees S. (1995). ''The Megapodes''. Oxford University Press: Oxford. * Marchant, S.; & Higgins, P.J. (Eds). (1993). ''

Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds The ''Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds'', known as ''HANZAB'', is the pre-eminent scientific reference on birds in the region, which includes Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica, and the surrounding ocean and subantarctic i ...

. Volume 2: Raptors to Lapwings''. Oxford University Press: Melbourne.

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1047217

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 ...

Birds of the Lesser Sunda Islands Birds of New Guinea Birds of the Northern Territory Birds of Queensland