Turkey (bird)

I

Introduction

Turkey (bird), common name for a large ground-living bird native to North America. Best known for its raised tail feather display and gobbling call, the wild turkey is hunted as a game bird and is the ancestor of the heavier domestic turkey raised for meat. The wild turkey has been reintroduced in many parts of the United States after nearly disappearing from overhunting and habitat loss.

II

Habitat and Range

The wild turkey mainly lives in forested areas and marshlands, and it is native to northern Mexico and the eastern United States. Overhunting and habitat loss greatly reduced its numbers in many regions of the United States by 1900. Efforts to restore the wild turkey population began in the 1930s, but introducing turkeys raised in pens back into the wild was not very successful. The birds lacked needed survival skills. A more effective approach was to capture members of existing wild populations and relocate them to other areas. Wild turkeys are now found in all states except Alaska. They have also been introduced as game birds in New Zealand and Germany.

III

Physical Description

Males (called gobblers or toms) are larger than females (called hens). In adult wild turkeys the head and neck are essentially naked, the feathers being reduced to hairlike bristles. The heads of males can be red, blue, or white according to the season. The male has a long fleshy growth called a snood at the base of the bill and wattles on the neck, as well as a prominent red-pink growth on the head called a carbuncle. The heads of females are grayish, with some feathers on the neck. The birds have buff-colored feathers on the tips of the wings and on the tail. Males are more colorful and ornamented than females.

The ocellated turkey is a separate species native to the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico and adjacent Guatemala and Belize. The tail feathers have green-blue eyespots and an iridescent purple appearance. The body feathers have a metallic golden, bronze-green sheen. The skin of the head and neck is blue and covered with red, wartlike growths.

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IV

Behavior

Wild turkeys are active during the day time and spend most of their time on the ground. They are swift runners, reaching 32 km/h (20 mph), and can fly at low altitude for distances under a mile at speeds up to 88.5 km/h (50 mph), getting air-borne with hops and leaps. They roost in trees at night. They do not migrate and may form larger social groups in the winter (winter flocks), sometimes defending territories against other bands of turkeys. They disperse into smaller groups in the spring.

Wild turkeys eat a wide variety of plant material in season such as acorns, nuts, seeds, grains, fruit, leaves, roots, tubers, buds, and fern fronds. A smaller part of their diet is made up of insects, worms, snails, and even small salamanders. They mainly forage for a few hours after dawn and before dusk.

Many types of animals eat wild turkey eggs, including raccoons, skunks, snakes, and other birds. Adult and young turkeys are prey for coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions, and large eagles and owls.

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