Galliformes

Gallinaceous birds appear to communicate through behavioral posturing, morphological features, vocalizations and other auditory signals. Identifiable threat posturing entails an upright body positioning, whereas submission involves a lowering of the body to the substrate. Gallinaceous birds may have brightly colored skin on the head and neck, wattles or casques, or brightly colored plumage. These features may be elaborately displayed during courtship and intra-sexual competition. The types of vocalizations used by gallinaceous birds are numerous and play an important role in communication. For example, characteristic vocalizations have been observed in conjunction with: courtship, agonistic interactions, submissive posturing, territoriality, and brooding. Other acoustic signaling takes place through the rattling or vibration of feathers of the wing or tail. Some species produce drumming or whirring sounds while in flight.

Communication Channels: visual ; acoustic

Other Communication Modes: choruses ; vibrations

Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; vibrations ; chemical

Gallinaceous birds exhibit a diversity of mating systems including monogamy, polygyny and polygynandry. Pair bonds, if evident, may last only through copulation or may persist over multiple breeding seasons. Courtship behaviors may entail elaborate displays of brightly colored skin and plumage. In some species dominance hierarchies exist, and high-ranking males often have greater mating success than lower ranking males.

Mating System: monogamous ; polygynous ; polygynandrous (promiscuous)

Galliform taxa may be sedentary or migratory. Most species breed seasonally in relation to local climactic conditions. Gallinaceous birds may nest on the ground or in trees. In some species nests are shallow, and lined with grass or leaves. Megapodes construct incubation mounds in which eggs are incubated environmentally, through the heat generated by decomposing vegetation, sun-warmed sand or geothermal sources. Courtship in some species entails elaborate visual displays in which males may strut about displaying brightly colored plumage or wattles. Females may lay from 2 to 35 eggs over the course of the breeding season. Egg dumping may occur in some species. Egg coloration varies, from white or creamy to brown or spotted. Chicks are precocial, able to walk, forage and fly shortly after hatching.

Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; fertilization (Internal ); oviparous

In gallinaceous birds parental care may include female incubation or environmental incubation (incubation mounds of megapodes). Brooding may be absent, or conducted primarily by the female. Males may guard nest sites, brooding females, or chicks.

In some gallinaceous birds, parents do not feed their young while in others the female provisions chicks with food offered from her bill. Family groups may join flocks at the end of the breeding season.

Parental Investment: precocial ; male parental care ; female parental care

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Some gallinaceous birds, while foraging for seeds and shoots on cultivated lands, may damage agricultural crops.

Negative Impacts: crop pest; household pest