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If you garden in South East Queensland, you've met the Australian brush turkey: the black bird with the bald red head and the yellow wattle that can rake a garden bed bare before breakfast. The Queensland Government warns that a male can strip a garden of small plants and mulch in less than a day.
Also known as: bush turkey, scrub turkey.
Why do they dig up gardens?
It's the males, building nests. A male brush turkey rakes leaf litter and mulch into a huge mound that works like a compost heap: the heat of it rotting down incubates the eggs. A mulched veggie bed full of loose, rich mix is perfect building material. Most mound building happens from August to December, so spring is when gardens cop it. They also scratch for insects, seeds and fallen fruit year round.
How do I spot them?
- Mulch raked off a bed into a pile, usually all in the same direction.
- Seedlings dug out or buried and bare patches in the bed.
- A big mound of leaf litter nearby, sometimes a metre high and several metres across.
- Large three-toed footprints and scratch marks.
Does a raised garden bed help?
Yes, a lot. Brush turkeys do their raking at ground level, so a waist-high bed on legs is well out of their usual way. They can still flap up onto one, though, so a bed a determined bird has found needs a cover.
What actually works?
- Cover the bed. Wire mesh or a bird net over the top and sides keeps them off completely. Fix it taut so nothing can get tangled in it.
- Lay wire over the mulch. The Queensland Government suggests chicken wire laid over mulched beds and held down with stakes and rocks. Plants grow up through the holes and the turkey has nothing to rake.
- Swap mulch for rocks. In ornamental beds, heavy coverings like rocks and large gravel give them nothing to move.
- Plant after the building rush. New seedlings are safest planted in late summer, once the August to December mound season is over. Guard anything you plant in spring.
- Give them somewhere else to build. A pile of mulch or leaf litter in a shady corner under big trees, well away from the veggies, can draw the mound away from your beds.
Starting a new bed? Our Grow Frame raised garden bed has a timber frame built in, so aviary mesh or a net goes on the sides and top with a staple gun and the bed is turkey-proof from day one. Outside South East Queensland, the Grow Frame kit ships Australia wide. Our Grow Frame ideas page lists which mesh does which job.
Grow Frame: a raised garden bed built to take a net
All four legs run up to a timber top rail, 1.8 m tall delivered in South East Queensland or 1.6 m as a kit shipped Australia wide. Throw a bird net over the top, staple insect mesh to the sides or screw aviary mesh into the bays. It comes bare, so you only buy the cover your pests need.
What should I avoid?
- Harming them. Brush turkeys are fully protected in Queensland under the Nature Conservation Act 1992.
- Wrecking the mound or chasing the bird off. The Queensland Government says it doesn't work, and a male will usually start rebuilding straight away.
- Feeding them, or leaving food scraps and compost uncovered.
- Loose netting. A slack net tangles birds, so keep it taut and fixed down.
If a mound really is a problem, a licensed bird relocator can move a male for a fee, but another male often takes over the territory. Have a chat with your neighbours first; the same bird is probably visiting them too.
For other garden visitors, see our guides to keeping birds off your veggies, possums and managing pests safely.
Plan your patch: our free garden calendar shows what to plant now where you live. Ready to grow? Browse our raised garden beds or build your own with the garden bed builder.
Image: JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/), CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.