The breast and belly are usually brown to black with conspicuous grey-white edges to the feathers. Feet and toes are a dusky yellow and eyes are either brown or white and the bill is black. Chicks have the appearance of Quails, with plain, rich brown feathers covering the entire body. As the bird quickly matures, it loses the feathers on its head and neck, and in their place develops a rich, pink colour. A variety of harsh grunts.
Males also boom territorially at nesting mound.
As the material increases, it is collected from a radius of about 20 meters . Then the bird periodically tramples it down, compacting it into a mound. The top layers have considerable soil, gathered up as the bird scratches around the area from which it has taken most of the leaves. The Brush Turkeys mound is in use for many years and is added to each breeding season, which is between August and December. A typical occupied mound is approximately 4 meters in Diameter and over 1 meter in height.