Sunrise this morning found me in search of a strange little creature, the Duck-billed Platypus. After arriving at the observation platform which was about a 2 minute walk from my car, it took about 15 seconds for me to spot one. After looking at it for a few minutes, I returned to the car to get my camera. Unfortunately, the water was dark adn the entire area was in deep shade making photography difficult but I did get a few images that at least show the animal fairly well. Hopefully in the next 11 months I will have some more chances to get better photographs.
As I was checking out a second observation platform, I noticed that there were two Australian Scrub-Turkeys excavating the center of one of their mounds, presumably so the female could lay an egg. They could have cared less about me and I even went back to the car to get a wide angle lens to better show the situation. So, posting this image today gives me the opportunity to be a bit of a science nerd and explain how these funny looking birds go about rasing their young.
Well, first things first, they don't raise their young. The family which Brush-Turkies belong to, Megapodidae, are known as the Mound Builders. This group of birds are the only birds (as far as I know) that have absolutely zero parental care for their young. Each spring, the male builds a giant mound of leaf-litter. In this case, the mound was probably about 1.75 meters across and a bit less than 1 meter high. A female comes along and the pair excavate a hole into which the female lays an egg and then they cover it back up. I don't know exactly how it works, but I believe the female lays many eggs each in different mounds and the male has multiple females lay eggs in his mound so that by the end of the season, each mound contains sevearl eggs. For the next month and a half or so (Ithink), the male bird monitors the temperature of the mound with a special sensory organ on his beak. If it gets too warm he uncovers and too cold, he adds more leaves. However, when the egg is ready to hatch, the adult abandons the nest and the young birds are left to completely fend for themselves. This lack of paternal care after hatching is quite unusual in birds but it seems to work well judging by the number of Brush-Turkeys Ihave seen in the last few weeks.
Alright, enough science lessons for one night. Tomorrow is my last full day on the road and then I get to get back to photographing for a while. By the end of the week I should be headed up Cape York and I can't wait.
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