Turkey Creche

It is not uncommon at this time of year in SEQ to see turkey creches – in the absence of parental supervision, the young turks like to form mutual support groups. A couple of weeks ago, I was passing through the closest compatible turkey habitat to the Brisbane GPO when I noticed a turkey chick confidently scratching away. I stopped to watch it, and became aware that there was another nearby, and another and another – there were 4 chicks, all a few days old within a space of 10 metres. This was odd, as normally there is a bit of an age gap between the chicks. In this case, the chicks were presumably laid around the same time (I always thought females only laid one egg per mound visit). I passed through the same park today, the chicks had all survived and were noticeably larger (though still with brown heads). However, their number had swelled to 6 – by far the largest creche I have seen, and quite impressive for a site that is two blocks from the GPO. Either the city predators are poor hunters or the chicks are roosting in the trees. Regards, Laurie.