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The Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) is a gamebird, one of the two species of turkey. Adults have a small featherless bluish head, a red throat, long reddish-orange legs and a dark body. The head has fleshy growths called caruncles on them, and there is a flap of flesh on the bill called a dewlap that can contract or expand as it is engourged with blood. Males have red waddles on the throat and neck. Each foot has four toes on it, and the males have spurs on the backs of their lower legs.
Turkeys have a long dark fan-shaped tail, and their wings are a glossy bronze. Males feathers are also iridescent red, green, copper, bronze and gold. Females feathers are a duller brown and gray color. Parasites can have an effect on the plumage coloration, and the coloration of males could serve as a condition-dependent signal of male health. The primary wing feathers have white bars. Turkeys have between 5,000-6,000 feathers. All adults have tail feathers that are the same length, whereas the juveniles do not. The males typically have a "beard" made of modified feathers sticking out from the middle of their breast. The beard averages 9 inches long. In some populations, 10-20% of the female turkeys may also have a beard, but it is usually shorter and thinner than the males.
Flight and Calls
As with many other species of the Galliformes, turkeys exhibit strong sexual dimorphism. They are surprisingly agile fliers and amazingly cunning, unlike their domestic counterparts (see: Domesticated turkey). They are capable of achieving speeds of 50 miles per hour (80 kilometers per hour) in flight but do not fly much higher than tree level nor very far (only up to about .25 mile). Turkeys make various vocalizations. The different vocalizations of the Wild Turkey are gobbles, clucks, putts, purrs, yelps, cutts, cackles and kee-kees. The male Oscellated Wild Turkey, found in Central/South America, "sings" to announce his presence. During the spring breeding season, hens will "yelp" to let the gobbler know her location. Male turkeys, called gobblers or toms, will often gobble announcing their presence. Turkeys have the ability to make any vocalization. For instance hens can gobble, which is very uncommon and gobblers can yelp which is actually very common. Immature males called "jakes" tend to "yelp" quite often. The males also emit a very low-pitched drumming sound. The gobble can be heard up to a mile away.
Habitat, Nesting, and Migration
Open areas like fields are preferred for feeding, mating, and habitat. The breeding habitat is wooded areas, usually with clearings, across most of the United States and parts of southern Canada, where they are permanent residents. The forested areas keep them hidden from predators. They nest on the ground at the bottom of a tree, shrub or in tall grass. At night, these birds roost in trees. In the United States they will even occasionally wander into backyards seeking out birdseed. Turkeys do not migrate; however, they have been introduced into new habitats across the U.S.
Foraging
Wild Turkeys are omnivorous, foraging on the ground or climb shrubs and small trees to feed. They prefer eating hard mast such as acorns and nuts of various trees, including hazel, chestnut, and hickory, various seeds, berries, roots and insects. They also eat small vertebrates like snakes, frogs or salamanders. Poults eat insects, berries, and seeds. The turkeys can obtain large populations in small areas because of their ability to forgage for different types of food. Early morning and late afternoon are the desired times for eating. Alanine transport rate and leucine aminopeptidase activity are not affected by diet, but high carbohydrate diets regulate the intestinal alanine transporter.
Social Structure and Mating Habits
Males are polygamous, so they form territories that may have as many as 5 hens within. Male wild turkeys display for females by puffing out their feathers, spreading out their tails and dragging their wings. This behavior is most commonly referred to as strutting. Their heads and necks are colored brilliantly with red, blue and white. The color can change with the turkeys mood, with a solid white head and neck being the most excited. They also use their gobble noises and make scrapes on the ground for territorial purposes. Courtship begins during the months of March and April, which is when turkeys are still flocked together in winter areas.
Males are often seen courting in pairs with both inflating their waddles and spreading tail feathers. Only the dominant male would strut and drum on the ground. The average dominant male that courted as part of a pair fathered six more eggs than males that courted alone. Genetic analysis of pairs of males courting together show that they are close relatives with half of their genetic material being identical. The theory behind the team-courtship is that the less dominant male would have a greater chance of passing along genetic material that is identical to his than he would if he was courting alone.
When mating is finished, females search for nest sites. Nests are shallow dirt depressions engulfed with woody vegetation. Hens lay a clutch of 10-12 eggs, usually one per day. The eggs are incubated for at least 28 days. The poults leave the nest in about 12-24 hours so they are precocial and nidifugous.
Other facts
The idea that Bejamin Franklin preferred the Turkey as the national bird comes from a letter he wrote to his daughter in 1784 criticizing the choice of the Eagle as the national bird and suggesting that a Turkey would have made a better alternative.
- ''For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral character. He does not get his Living honestly. You may have seen him perched on some dead Tree near the River, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the Labour of the Fishing Hawk; and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish, and is bearing it to his Nest for the Support of his Mate and young Ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him and takes it from him.
- ''With all this Injustice, he is never in good Case but like those among Men who live by Sharping & Robbing he is generally poor and often very lousy. Besides he is a rank Coward: The little King Bird not bigger than a Sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the District. He is therefore by no means a proper Emblem for the brave and honest Cincinnati of America who have driven all the King birds from our Country . . .
- I am on this account not displeased that the Figure is not known as a Bald Eagle, but looks more like a Turkey. For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America . . . He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on.
Note however that (a) the letter is somewhat tongue in cheek, (b) the letter was written after congress spent six years choosing the eagle and was written to his daughter, not a member of congress, and (c) the letter references a poorly drawn eagle that looks like a turkey and compares the turkey to the eagle which is different than advocating the turkey on it's own. It is clear that Mr. Franklin was not happy with the choice of the Eagle, but not at all clear that he ever officially advocated for the turkey.
The wild turkey has been adopted as the official game bird of South Carolina, Alabama, Oklahoma and Massachusetts.
Turkey is a popular main dish for the Thanksgiving holiday, which is held in November in the United States and October in Canada. The Aztecs domesticated the southern Mexican sub-species, M. g. mexicana
The range and numbers of the Wild Turkey had decreased at the beginning of the 20th century due to hunting and loss of habitat. Game managers estimate that the entire populations of Wild Turkeys in the U.S.A was as low as 30,000 in the early 1900's. Game officials made efforts to protect and encourage the breeding of the surviving wild population. As the Wild Turkey's numbers rebounded in the 1980s and 1990s, hunting was legalized in 49 US states, excluding Alaska. Current estimates place the entire Wild Turkey population at 7 million individuals. In recent years, trap and transfer projects have reintroduced Wild Turkeys to several provinces of Canada as well.
Sub-species of Wild Turkey
There are subtle difference in the coloration of the different sub-species of Wild Turkeys. The five sub-species are:
- Eastern (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris)
Range covers the entire eastern half of the United States; extending also into Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritime Provinces in Canada. They number from 5.1 to 5.3 million birds. They were first named forest turkey in 1817, and can grow up to 4 feet tall. The upper tail coverts are tipped with chestnut brown. - Osceola or Florida (M. g. osceola)
Found only on the Florida peninsula. They number from 80,000 to 100,000 birds. This bird is named for the famous Seminole Chief Osceola, and was first described in 1980. It is smaller and darker than the Eastern turkey. The wing feathers are very dark with smaller amounts of the white barring seen on other sub-species. Their overall body feathers are iridescent green-purple color. - Rio Grande (M. g. intermedia)
Ranges through Texas to Oklahoma, Kansas, and Colorado, as well as parts of a few northeastern states. Rio Grande turkeys were also introduced to Hawaii in the late 1950's. They number from 1,022,700 to 1,025,700 birds. This sub-species is native to the central plain states. They were first described in 1879, and have disproportionately long legs. Their body feathers often have a green-coppery sheen to them. The tips of the tail and lowrer back feathers are a buff-very light tan color. Habitats are brush areas next to streams, rivers or mesquite pine and scrub oak forests. Only turkey to be found up to 6,000 feet in elevation and are gregarious. - Merriam's (M. g. merriami)
Ranges through the Rocky Mountains and the neighboring prairies of Wyoming, Montana and South Dakota. They number from 334,460 to 344,460 birds. Live in ponderosa pine and mountain regions. Named in 1900 in honor of C. Hart Merriam, the first chief of the US Biological Survey. The tail and lower back back feather s have white tips. They have purple and bronze reflections. - Gould's (M. g. mexicana)
Native to central Mexico and the southern-most parts of Arizona and New Mexico. They number from 650 to 800 birds. Heavily protected and regulated. First described in 1856. They exist in small numbers but are abundant in Northwestern portions of Mexico. Gould's are the largest of the five sub-species. They have longer legs, larger feet, and longer tail feathers. The main color of the body feathers are copper and greenish-gold.
See also
References
- http://www1.va.gov/opa/feature/celebrate/eagle.asp (Turkey as National Bird)
External links
- All About Wild Turkeys - Map of the locations of the five different sub-species of Wild Turkey
- Sounds Made by Wild Turkeys - Wild Turkey calls
Meleagrididae | United States state birds | Avifauna of North America | Wildlife of North America
"Wild Turkey"