 This terrestrial species lives in forests and swamps, including mangroves, of the Maluku and Raja Ampat Islands in Indonesia.Like other megapodes, it lays its eggs in a mound made from earth mixed with leaves, sand, gravel, and sticks, as big as in diameter and stand nearly tall.Many authorities include the Biak scrubfowl as a subspecies of this species, but the two are increasingly treated as separate species.