The New Guinea scrubfowl or New Guinea megapode is a species of bird in the family Megapodiidae. It is found in New Guinea, mostly in the northern half. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest. This species was formerly known as Megapodius affinis but Roselaar, 1994 showed that Megapodius affinis A. B. Meyer, 1874 refers to M. reinwardt.
Region
Melanesia
Typical Environment
Occurs across the northern half of the island of New Guinea, in both Papua New Guinea and Indonesian Papua. It inhabits tropical moist lowland and foothill rainforest, secondary forest, and forest edges, often near rivers and on well-drained slopes. Birds also use coastal scrub and disturbed habitats where suitable mound sites exist. They are primarily ground-dwelling but will fly into trees to roost. Availability of leaf litter and sandy or friable soils for mound-building strongly influences local occurrence.
Altitude Range
Sea level to 1700 m
Climate Zone
Tropical
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
Megapodes incubate their eggs in large mounds of decaying vegetation or warm sand, letting environmental heat do the work. Chicks hatch fully feathered and independent, capable of flight within a day. The New Guinea scrubfowl is shy and largely terrestrial, spending most of its time scratching through leaf litter. It was once confused taxonomically with other megapodes, but is now treated as a distinct New Guinea endemic.
Temperament
secretive and wary
Flight Pattern
short rapid wingbeats with brief, low flights
Social Behavior
Usually seen singly or in pairs, sometimes in small groups near communal nesting mounds. Pairs or small groups build and maintain large incubation mounds of soil and leaf litter, adding or removing material to regulate temperature. Chicks hatch fully developed and receive no parental care, dispersing immediately from the mound.
Migratory Pattern
Resident
Song Description
Vocalizations include loud, harsh clucks, cackles, and crowing duets, often at dawn and dusk. Calls carry through forest and may serve for territory advertisement around mound sites.
