Michael speaks to Matthew Hall, Sydney University PhD candidate who is studying the rapid re-emergence of brush-turkeys in the harbour city and has developed a smartphone app to crowdsource sightings.

 

Brush-turkeys are on the march from the north shore Sydney and set to reclaim the southern end of their natural range, which extends from Cape York in the north right down to the Illawarra.

 

Adult birds aren't good flyers, he says, and are only able to get far enough to cross rivers like the Parramatta or Lane Cove, meaning their expansion into western, eastern and southern suburbs has been largely on foot.

 

"The last two years we've started to have sightings south of the harbour, and around Ryde and Parramatta," Mr Hall said.