Mound-builders: Mallee fowl, brush turkeys and scrubfowl

(Paperback)

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Description

The Megapodes are an ancient and remarkable group of birds that occur only in Australia, Papua New Guinea and the islands that surround them. Within this group, there are 22 species of mound-builders, three of which occur in Australia in dramatically differing habitats: the Scrubfowl lives in the humid tropics; the Brush turkey in dense forested areas from Cape York to Sydney; and most remarkable of all, the Malleefowl, which lives in the arid interior. Scientific interest in these birds has increased significantly in recent decades, and Mound-builders summarises many significant discoveries. Much of this research has been focussed on the three Australian species, which provide greatly contrasting approaches to surviving in different parts of the continent.

Reviews

"The Megapodes (family Megapodiidae) are the only birds known to use external heat sources rather than body heat for incubation. Of the 22 species, this book examines the biology and conservation of the 3 Australian species: Orange-footed Megapode, Australian Brush-turkey and Malleefowl. These 3 species build large mounds and incubate their eggs with heat generated by decomposing organic matter. Included in this book are 8 color pages of photos showing various aspects of these 3 species."-- (05/01/2009)

Author Bio

Darryl Jones has been studying mound-building birds for 30 years, and has observed them in the wild throughout Australia and in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. He is a co-founder of the Megapode Specialist Group, affiliated with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and is one of the authors of the authoritative monograph The Megapodes. He is especially interested in their behavioural ecology and is currently investigating the unexpectedly successful invasion of Australian Brush-turkeys into suburbia. Originally from Austria, Dr. Ann Goth first worked on megapode birds in Tonga, and then conducted her PhD studies on the Australian brush-turkey at Griffith University in Brisbane. She continued to work on these birds while at Macquarie University in Sydney. Today, she works for the Department of Environment and Climate Change in Sydney.