Australia has a proud tradition of losing to birds.
In 1932, the Australian Army deployed machine guns against emus in Western Australia, it was dubbed The Emu War. The emus won. Nearly a century later, the brush turkey has arrived in suburban Sydney with the same energy — and anyone who has watched one dismantle a Shelly Beach picnic in broad daylight knows the outcome is looking equally one-sided.
Only this time we are armed with water pistols at best, and the turkeys have environmental law in their arsenal.
Their tenacious beach towel raids and explosive population boost in the last decade has earned the Australian Brush Turkey an infamous reputation, particularly among beachgoers, but is there more to these urban sprawlers than meets the eye?
Although the native bird can now be found in almost any part of Sydney, they have taken a particular liking to Manly’s Shelly Beach, where there is an abundance of food. At first, acting as a novelty for tourists seeing a familiar forest dwelling animal on a bustling beach, the turkey soon shows why locals tend to leave their unattended belongings and food wrapped away.
But even secure food is not safe.
Local Shelly restaurant the Boathouse has had an ongoing feud with turkeys stealing food off patrons’ tables, prompting staff to use water pistols to deter the birds without stepping on any environmental protection laws, which the birds are placed under.
“For years, the birds were simply part and parcel of the location, but last year there was a noticeable increase in numbers with a correlating negative impact on guest experience,” a representative from the Boathouse said.
Brush, bush or scrub the turkey goes by many titles, but all are acceptable according to ecologist Dr Ann Göth, who welcomes the creatures’ comeback after hovering on the brink of extinction almost a century ago.
“The first thing to clarify is they’re not invading, they’re a native species, and they’re coming back to where they used to occur.”
“The first thing to clarify is they’re not invading, they’re a native species, and they’re coming back to where they used to occur. They were in much higher numbers before people hunted them to almost extinction as a food source during the depression,” Dr Göth, who literally wrote the book on the subject and gained her PhD on youth brush turkey development after becoming fascinated by their orphaned heritage, said.
“They’re the only birds in the world that receive no help from their parents whatsoever, they hatch from their mounds completely independent but not before digging themselves out for an average of 40 hours.”
After this point, the turkey must fend for itself – often eating anything it comes across and in adulthood, standing against predators to protect its nest – perhaps offering reasoning for its ambitious behaviour and roaring comeback into the suburbs from the rainforests.
A CSIRO study from Wildlife Research reported brush turkeys went from being spotted in just three Sydney suburbs in the 1990s to 310 by 2019.
Before they hatch, a male brush turkey will gather material from up to 100 metres away to create a mound the size of a small car for the egg. They will then use a sensor in their beak to measure its temperature to balance incubation. Females will also be lured to the nest to lay an egg that is 20 percent of her body weight. She can then produce one egg every three to four days.
As impressive as these mounds are, they are a bane to homeowners who have their gardens destroyed in the resource gathering process.
State law protections on brush turkeys mean not much can be done by residents or local governments to remove the bird or prevent its antics. However, there are garden saving tactics that can be deployed.
“You need to be really vigilant about August, when they start building. At that time, you can still try to chase them away, which is also legal at that time because there’s no eggs in the mound,” Dr Göth said.
Residents can also use vertical stakes to prevent raking, install sentinel sprinklers, or remove shading above mounds, as they need at least 80 percent shade.
Though sometimes viewed as a public menace, the brush turkey does have its ecological values too. Their scratching of soil in search for nest materials and food aerates the soil, supplying nutrients for native plants. There is also evidence the mounds reduce fuel for bushfires and are perfect for garden compost, once the brush turkey has finished nesting.
So, what’s the protocol for a protected species making a sudden impact on high tourist communities?
The National Parks Wildlife Service (NPWS) sent us a long answer to that question which in essence recommends businesses with a turkey problem consider clearing their tables, closing their doors, and of course installing stark signage for the public:
“Do not feed the birds.”
