Unexpected dispersal of Australian brush-turkeys (Alectura lathami) in an urban landscape

Abstract

Australian brush-turkeys (Alectura lathami) are atypical urban colonising birds due to their poor flight and dispersal ability, ground foraging and nesting behaviour, and lack of parental care for their chicks. Despite this, they have become increasingly common in urban areas in Australia, including major cities such as Sydney and Brisbane. The drivers of the brush-turkey spread into urban areas, and the mechanisms behind their dispersal remain poorly understood due to the difficulty of tracking individual birds over multi-year timescales. Here, we report on the long-distance dispersal of individually tagged brush-turkeys within greater Sydney, observed through the Big City Birds citizen science project. While 84 tagged brush-turkeys remained within 2 km of their tagging site for the duration of observations, 9 of the tagged birds travelled 8–37 km from their tagging site without returning. This is the first time this dispersal behaviour has been observed in this species and contrasts previous observations of strong site fidelity, suggesting that further research is needed into brush-turkey dispersal behaviour, particular in urban areas. Our observations demonstrate the value of citizen science methods for long-term monitoring of individually marked animals, and the potential for the wing-tagging method to be applied to other charismatic species.