B is for Brush Turkey

This week proved challenging, due to the unfamiliarity of the Brush Turkey, a ground-dwelling, flightless, Australian bird. Most people would find this bird fairly dull in appearance because it lacks any colourful feathers however when you find out more about this bird you realise just how fascinating it actually is... and at the Zoo, we love all animals! One of the most interesting facts about this bird is that the male builds a mound out of leaf litter to house the eggs. To make sure that the eggs are able to incubate properly, he will put his beak inside the 'nest' and check the temperature to see whether it is too hot or too cold. If it is too cold he will increase the amount of leaf litter and will take leaf litter away if he decides that it is too hot.

At the Zoo, our Growing Wild precinct has two mounds that children can explore to find the hidden Brush Turkey eggs. This is what the children in Alphabet Zoop also did when we went on an exploration to find the Brush Turkey and their hidden eggs.

This week, the structure of the program was slightly altered to help the children form their prior knowledge about what the animal looked like before making their own Brush Turkey. Back in our room, children were given the opportunity to make a Brush Turkey using their handprint, black feathers, joggle eyes and pipe cleaners. The first step was for the adult to paint one of their child's hands with black paint and red paint on the thumb to make the bird's face. They then glued on joggle eyes to the face and put black feathers between the fingers of the handprint. The pipe cleaners were used to make the two legs with permanent marker used to define the claws. Lastly, yellow crepe paper crumpled into small balls were glued onto the neck of the Brush Turkey to make a 'wattle'.

As a Brush Turkey song could not be found, our own song was made up to sing. The tune of 'Wheels on the bus' was the perfect choice because it was a well-known tune that the children and adults could join in with. This was the same case when it came to choosing a book to read. We ended up choosing 'Edward the Emu' written by Sheena Knowles because of its relevance to a big, flightless Australian bird and also quite fittingly, its reference to a Zoo!

The Australian Brush Turkey is

a large black bird, a large black bird,

a large black bird,

The Australian Brush Turkey is

a large black bird,

With a bald, red head.

The Australian Brush Turkey will

scratch among the leaves, scratch among the leaves,

scratch among the leaves

The Australian Brush Turkey will

scratch among the leaves,

To look, for its food.

The male Brush Turkey will

build a mound, build a mound,

build a mound,

The male brush turkey will

build a mound,

To help, hatch the eggs.