The brush-turkey is an Aussie battler – and it needs your help | Alicia Burns

Brush turkeys are often the last holdouts against gentrification. But they still face peril in urban environments and researchers are enlisting citizen scientists to understand how they can better survive

It's hard not to look at the brush turkey as the avian archetype of the Aussie battler - persisting and thriving, even though the odds are stacked against it. These birds' work ethic in the face of almost impossible living conditions, environmental hardship and sometimes outright hostility is truly something to behold.

And without diminishing the likely (and deserved) victory of the majestic white ibis in this year's Bird of the Year poll, it must be said that this year there has also been a lot of talk about - and love and loathing aimed at - the Australian brush turkey.