Editing Megapode (section)

{{Short description|Family of birds}}
{{distinguish|text=[[Macropod (disambiguation){{!}}Macropod]], kangaroos and similar marsupials}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| image = Australian brushturkey (Alectura lathami) female Atherton.jpg
| image_caption = female [[Australian brushturkey]] (''Alectura lathami'')
| taxon = Megapodiidae
| authority = [[René-Primevère Lesson|Lesson]], 1831
| subdivision_ranks = [[Genera]]
| subdivision = *''[[Aepypodius]]''
*''[[Alectura]]''
*''[[Eulipoa]]''
*''[[Leipoa]]''
*''[[Macrocephalon]]''
*''[[Megapodius]]''
*''[[Talegalla]]''
}}
[[File:Australian brushturkey (Alectura lathami) female head Atherton.jpg|thumb|right|Brushturkeys can often be found in parks or gardens.]]

The '''megapodes''', also known as '''incubator birds''' or '''mound-builders''', are stocky, medium-large, [[chicken]]-like [[bird]]s with small heads and large feet in the family '''Megapodiidae'''. Their name literally means "large foot" and is a reference to the heavy legs and feet typical of these [[Terrestrial animal|terrestrial]] birds. All are [[Browsing (predation)|browsers]], and all except the [[malleefowl]] occupy [[Woodland|wooded]] habitats. Most are brown or black in color. Megapodes are [[superprecocial]], hatching from their eggs in the most mature condition of any bird. They hatch with open eyes, bodily coordination and strength, full wing feathers, and downy body feathers, and are able to run, pursue prey and, in some species, fly on the day they hatch.<ref name=Starck-Ricklefs-1998/>