The Black-billed Brushturkey lives in lowland forests of New Guinea. Its black bill helps distinguish it from the very similar Red-billed Brushturkey.
Its plumage and shape closely resemble those of the related Red-billed Brushturkey, but its bill is black.
Yellow-legged Brushturkeys inhabit forests in New Guinea. At Varirata National Park, both males and females were recorded tending incubation mounds.
A 2018 presentation combined camera observations with local knowledge. Birds were more active in the morning than in the afternoon, and females sometimes left briefly. Mounds were used repeatedly over time for continued egg laying.
At this site, mound building, laying and temperature-control activity were prominent from September to March, with nesting peaks before and towards the end of the wet season. Birds repeatedly returned to tend material and lay eggs as the seasons changed.
IUCN Red List (BirdLife listing) · Least Concern · Global
BirdLife’s 2024 assessment is Least Concern, with a suspected decline linked to forest loss. The Varirata report raised disturbance by people, vehicles and animals near mounds as a nesting concern.