Chicken-Like Birds: Galliformes

Social behavior varies among species. Many species are solitary (lone) or spend the year in pairs. Other species spend the nonbreeding season feeding together in larger groups.

Males are territorial. Because their vivid colorations make them easy to spot, some species move only when threatened, preferring to spend the majority of their time sitting still. Most species do not migrate. In fact, they rarely leave the area in which they were born. A few do migrate (travel seasonally from region to region), however.

Galliformes are terrestrial (land-based) and are not built for long-distance flight. They are better equipped to make strong, short bursts of flight. When threatened, they are more likely to run away than fly. When they do take flight, most species cannot fly high above the ground.

Gallinaceous birds bathe by squatting in shallow pits and beating their wings. This dusts their feathers and removes parasites.

Breeding habits vary throughout the order. Those species in which there is little physical difference between the male and female tend to be monogamous (having just one mate), whereas those in which the males are more colorful are polygynous (one male, many females). Males have many physical traits used to attract females, including bright colors, shaped tail feathers, and other distinct markings. Some have combs (fleshy red crests on top of the head) and eyebrows. One family—the curassows— has a colorful knob on the beak that gets larger as the bird ages.

Vocalizations play an important role in courtship displays and territorial rituals. They are also used to communicate with a mate. In some species, the calls can be heard for up to 4 miles (6.4 kilometers).

The family known as megapodes do not need to sit on their eggs to incubate (keep warm for hatching to occur) them. The male builds a large mound of sand or vegetation and digs into it. The female lays her eggs in the burrow, and it's up to the male to regulate the temperature of the nest, sometimes for up to eleven months until the egg hatches. In monogamous (muh-NAH-guh-mus) pairs, where each bird mates with just one other bird, both parents help care for the young.

For those species that do incubate their eggs with their own body heat, incubation time varies from seventeen days to four weeks. Clutch sizes vary from seven to twenty eggs.

Young are born with their eyes open, able to feed somewhat independently within a few hours of hatching. Hatchlings are born with colors aimed at helping them stay hidden, but those first downy feathers are replaced with brighter colors as the bird matures. Offspring leave their parents at around one year of age.

Predators include red foxes, striped skunks, chipmunks, squirrels, raccoons, snakes, and crows.