Sunday 8 July 2007

Endangered Bruijn's Brush-turkey photographed for first time in the wild

Birdwatchers on a Papua Expeditions (PE) exploratory bird tour to Mount Danai on the Indonesian island of Waigeo have taken the first photographs in the wild of the endemic Bruijn's Brush-turkey Aepypodius bruijnii, a unique species of megapode which remained entirely unknown in the living world for more than 120 years between its formal description from trade skins in 1880 and its field discovery by PE resident birder Iwein Mauro on nearby Mount Nok in May 2002.

In early April 2007 Iwein Mauro and fellow PE resident birder Zeth Wonggor, along with British birdwatcher Charles Davies, watched a fine adult male brush-turkey persistently displaying from atop its nest mound just four metres away from their hide in ridge-top cloud-forest on Mount Danai. The group also repeatedly watched a soliciting female visiting the mound while the male was away.

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