‘Big Building Birds’ (Bird Nerd Column)

My ‘Bird Nerd’ column in the latest Australian Geographic Magazine (Issue 158) is all about those incredible birds that build huge mounds to incubate their eggs – the Magapodes. The name actually means ‘large foot’ and these ground-dwelling birds use these large feet to rake through the leaf litter for food, perch in trees for safety and, of course, construct incubation mounds.

Australia has three species: Malleefowl, Australian Brush Turkey and Orange-footed Scrubfowl, but is not the only country to have them. There are 22 species recognised in the Indo-Pacific region.

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