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Megapodius
The scrubfowl are the genus '' Megapodius '' of the mound-builders, stocky, medium-large chicken-like birds with small heads and large feet in the family Megapodiidae. They are found from south-east Asia to north Australia and islands in the west Pacific. They do not incubate their eggs with their body heat in the orthodox way, but bury them. They are best known for building a massive mound of decaying vegetation, which the male attends, adding or removing litter to regulate the internal heat while the eggs hatch. The species in taxonomic order are: * † Pile-builder scrubfowl (''Megapodius molistructor'') * † Viti Levu scrubfowl (''Megapodius amissus'') In all of the above, the name "scrubfowl" is sometimes exchanged with "megapode". Traditionally, most have been listed as subspecies of ''M. freycinet'', but today all major authorities consider this incorrect. Nevertheless, there are unresolved issues within the genus, and for example the taxon ''forstenii'' has been ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 and feet typical of these terrestrial birds. All are browsers, and all except the malleefowl occupy wooded habitats. Most are brown or black in color. Megapodes are superprecocial, hatching from their eggs in the most mature condition of any bird. They hatch with open eyes, bodily coordination and strength, full wing feathers, and downy body feathers, and are able to run, pursue prey and, in some species, fly on the day they hatch. Etymology From the Greek ( = ''great'') and , ( = ''foot''). Description Megapodes are medium-sized to large terrestrial birds with large legs and feet with sharp claws. Megapodes are of three kinds: scrub fowl, brush turkeys, and mallee fowl or lowan. The largest members of the clade are the species of '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Megapodius Reinwardt Cairns
The scrubfowl are the genus '' Megapodius '' of the mound-builders, stocky, medium-large chicken-like birds with small heads and large feet in the family Megapodiidae. They are found from south-east Asia to north Australia and islands in the west Pacific. They do not incubate their eggs with their body heat in the orthodox way, but bury them. They are best known for building a massive mound of decaying vegetation, which the male attends, adding or removing litter to regulate the internal heat while the eggs hatch. The species in taxonomic order are: * †Pile-builder scrubfowl (''Megapodius molistructor'') * † Viti Levu scrubfowl (''Megapodius amissus'') In all of the above, the name "scrubfowl" is sometimes exchanged with "megapode". Traditionally, most have been listed as subspecies of ''M. freycinet'', but today all major authorities consider this incorrect. Nevertheless, there are unresolved issues within the genus, and for example the taxon ''forstenii'' has been con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicobar Megapode
The Nicobar megapode or Nicobar scrubfowl (''Megapodius nicobariensis'') is a megapode found in some of the Nicobar Islands (India). Like other megapode relatives, it builds a large mound nest with soil and vegetation, with the eggs hatched by the heat produced by decomposition. Newly hatched chicks climb out of the loose soil of the mound and being fully feathered are capable of flight. The Nicobar Islands are on the edge of the distribution of megapodes, well separated from the nearest ranges of other megapode species. Being restricted to small islands and threatened by hunting, the species is vulnerable to extinction. The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, 2004 tsunami is believed to have wiped out populations on some islands and reduced populations on several others. Description Megapodes are so named for their large feet and like others in the group, this species is fowl like with dark brown plumage, a short tail and large feet and claws. The tarsus is bare with the h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Melanesian Megapode
The Melanesian scrubfowl or Melanesian megapode (''Megapodius eremita'') is a megapode species that is endemic to islands within Melanesia. The Melanesian scrubfowl has a unique strategy of egg incubation in which it relies on environmental heat sources. This bird species is culturally important for Indigenous peoples in Melanesia. Taxonomy and systematics Two names are commonly used to refer to the species ''Megapodius eremita'': the Melanesian scrubfowl and Melanesian megapode. ''M. eremita'' belongs to the family Megapodiidae (the megapodes) and genus Scrubfowl, Megapodius (the scrubfowl). Following this classification, some taxonomists prefer the common designation "scrubfowl" because it is more precise, identifying the species as part of its particular genus rather than the megapode family as a whole. The species ''M. eremita'' was first described and introduced to 'Western' taxonomy by Hartlaub in 1868. But, as later taxonomists struggled to identify whether scrubfowl groups ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 native to many islands in the Lesser Sunda Islands as well as southern New Guinea and northern Australia. Description 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, bush chicken, bush turkey, or most commonly, the bush boiby Conservation In general, populations seem to be stable and the conservation status of the species is considered to be of Least Concern. Diet The orange-footed scrubfowl feeds on seeds, fallen fruit and terrestrial invertebrates. Breeding As with other megapodes, it nests in large mounds of sand, leaf litt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biak Scrubfowl
The Biak scrubfowl or Biak megapode (''Megapodius geelvinkianus'') is a species of bird in the family Megapodiidae. It is found only on the islands of Biak, Mios Korwar, Numfor, Manim and Mios Num in the West Papua region of Indonesia. 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 habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical moist shrubland. It is threatened by habitat loss. Some taxonomists consider this to be a subspecies of the dusky megapode, 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 native to many islands in the Lesser Sunda Islands as well as southern New Guinea and n ..., but is increasingly looked at as a distinct species. Refer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Micronesian Megapode
The Micronesian megapode or Micronesian scrubfowl (''Megapodius laperouse'') is an endangered megapode which inhabits islands of the Western Pacific Ocean. Description The Micronesian megapode is a stocky medium-sized bird that is mostly dark brownish-black in appearance. Its head is paler than its body, and it has a pale grey crest, a yellow bill, and large dull-yellow legs and feet. It is 38 cm. Medium-sized, dark megapode with paler head. Mostly brownish-black with short pale grey crest. Yellow bill, red facial skin showing through thin feathers. Unusually large, dingy yellow legs and feet. Similar species. Could be confused with dark morphs of Red Junglefowl Gallus gallus (or feral domestic stock). Its call is a loud "keek", song often a duet with one bird beginning a rising and accelerating "keek-keek-keek-keek"- etc. culminating in a loud "kee-keer-kew" (Palau) or "keek-keer-keet" (Marianas), the other answering with a rising cackle that slows near the end. . The Mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philippine Megapode
The Philippine megapode (''Megapodius cumingii''), also known as the Philippine scrubfowl or the Tabon scrubfowl, is a species of bird in the family Megapodiidae. It is found in the Philippines, northeastern Borneo, and Sulawesi. It has a wide range of natural habitats which include tropical dry forest, tropical moist lowland forest, tropical moist montane forest and small islands. The species was named after the collector Hugh Cuming. Description and taxonomy EBird describes the bird as "Odd-looking partridge-like bird with a stunted head. Brown wings, gray underparts, and yellow bill. Found on small offshore islands and within hilly and montane forests on larger islands. Forages on the ground, scraping about in the leaf litter and detritus. Gives long, drawn-out wails somewhat akin to that of emergency vehicles. Like other megapodes, builds mounds and digs burrows to incubate eggs." It was formerly conspecific with the Dusky megapode but is differentiated with a lighter bro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tongan Megapode
The Tongan megapode (''Megapodius pritchardii'') is a species of bird in the megapode family, Megapodiidae, currently endemic to Tonga. The species is also known as the Polynesian megapode, and as the Niuafo'ou megapode after the island of Niuafo'ou to which it was restricted for many years. The specific epithet honours British consul William Thomas Pritchard. Distribution and habitat The Tongan megapode is the only remaining species of megapode in Tonga out of the four or five species that were present on the islands in prehuman times (as shown through the fossil record), and indeed the only species of megapode that survives in Polynesia.Steadman D, (2006). ''Extinction and Biogeography in Tropical Pacific Birds'', University of Chicago Press. pp. 291–292 Similar extinctions occurred in Fiji and New Caledonia, which apparently had three species in prehistory. The species itself once had a more widespread distribution, occurring across most of Tonga, Samoa and Niue. The ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sula Megapode
The Sula megapode or Sula scrubfowl (''Megapodius bernsteinii'') is a species of bird in the family Megapodiidae. It is found only in the Banggai and Sula Islands between Sulawesi and the Maluku Islands in Indonesia, where its habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical mangrove forest, and subtropical or tropical moist shrubland. It is threatened by habitat destruction. Description The Sula scrubfowl is a medium-sized ground-dwelling bird growing to a length of between . The sexes are similar in appearance, being a uniform reddish-brown colour and having a short, pointed crest and long red or orange-red legs and feet. Distribution It is known only from the Banggai and Sula Islands, groups of islands between Sulawesi and the Maluku Islands in Indonesia. Habitats include lowland forests as well as dense scrub near forests and farmland, at altitudes of up to . Ecology The species usually forages in pairs, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
