This megapode has brown-to-grey plumage and bare red facial skin. In Borneo it searches on the ground and buries eggs in a mound of plant material, where heat from decomposition incubates them.
Adults are brown to grey, with bright red facial skin. The sexes have similar plumage.
Philippine Megapodes use environmental heat to incubate eggs. Some Philippine island populations use mounds of vegetation, while others bury eggs in sun-warmed sand. On Puerco Island off Palawan, birds move among coastal laying grounds, bushes and nearby trees.
A 2021 study used cameras at Puerco laying grounds. All 178 emergence records with recorded times occurred between 18:30 and 06:00, most commonly from 21:00 to 01:00. Chicks developed beneath the sand and appeared above ground during darkness.
Chicks quickly moved into nearby bushes. Rails, herons and migratory owls preyed on chicks at the site. The researchers suggest that night-time emergence and rapid hiding may help reduce predation. Warm sand and adjacent vegetation together formed the setting for the chicks’ first movements.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
The 2021 Philippine field study identifies coastal development, habitat modification and hunting as conservation concerns. It recommends protecting laying habitats, reducing hunting, monitoring populations and studying island-level differences and movements.