Overview

Palau Megapode: Medium-sized, brown-black megapode with a small, pointed crest, gray crown and nape, and small patch of bare red skin on throat. Short, broad wings. Rather short, yellow bill. Very short tail. Strong, medium-length yellow legs and feet with some black-gray on the feet. Sexes similar, juvenile like adult.

Voice Text

"skeek", "keek, keer, kew", "kukuku-kuk-kuk-kuk-KUCK"

• It is the largest wild bird in Palau, however it is rare and in danger of extinction.
• The Palau Megapode, also called the Micronesian Scrubfowl, is smaller than a domesticated chicken.
• This species was named for French explorer Jean-Fran ois de Galaup, comte de LapŽrouse, whose expedition vanished in Oceana.

• Red Junglefowl
• Slaty-legged Crake
• Red-legged Crake

Megapodes (Megapodiidae)

ORDER

Grouse, pheasants, and megapodes are members of the five families that make up the taxonomic order of birds that also includes the domestic Chicken; the GALLIFORMES (pronounced gal-i-FOR-meez).

FAMILY TAXONOMY

The megapodes are placed in the megapodiidae (pronounced meguh-

POH-di-dee), a group of twenty-one extant species in seven

genera found in Australasia, parts of southern Asia, and islands in the western Pacific Ocean.

SOUTH PACIFIC-PALAU

Eight species of megapodes in one genus are found in the South Pacific, four of which are extinct. One species in one genus, the Endangered Micronesian Megapode, occurs in Palau.

KNOWN FOR

Megapodes are known for their terrestrial behavior, large strong feet, and using the heat generated by large mounds of decaying vegetation to incubate their eggs.

PHYSICAL

Members of the megapodiidae are medium to large, chicken or pheasant-like birds with short, stout beaks used for picking up seeds, and catching such small creatures. Their wings are very short, their tails are short to medium in length, and legs are fairly long.

COLORATION

Megapodes tend to be plumaged in dark colors such as black, brown, and gray, although a few species also have gray-white in their plumage, and several have a bit of orange or red on the head, and yellow legs. The one species that lives in arid habitats, the Malleefowl of Australia, is tan-brown with cryptic black barring and mottled plumage.

GEOGRAPHIC HABITAT

Most megapodes live in moist or humid tropical lowland forest, some with access to beaches used for nesting. A few species also live in montane forests on New Guinea, and the Malleefowl inhabits arid, scrubby habitats in Australia.

MIGRATION

None of the members of this family migrate, have limited flight capabilities, and are sedentary.

HABITS

All of the megapode species are solitary birds that never form flocks. They are also terrestrial, and forage on the ground for seeds and small creatures.

CONSERVATION

Megapodes tend to be rare birds in most parts of their range. The Australian Brushturkey and a few other species are common, but eleven others are threatened with extinction, including the Micronesian Megapode of Palau.

INTERESTING FACTS

Megapodes are the only birds known to use heat generated by decaying vegetation and/or sand to incubate their eggs. Young birds use their feet to claw out of their eggs and hatch fully feathered, active, and completely independent. Several species are known to have gone extinct on Polynesian islands after the arrival of humans, likely because of over-hunting and depredation by rats and other invasive animals. Several extant species on Pacific islands are threatened by similar factors.

Artist

Michael Oberhofer