Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallapavo)
Description: Wild Turkeys are the largest game bird in North America standing as tall as three feet and weighing 17 pounds for males and 10 pounds for females. Wild turkeys have long, thin legs and feet with claws and a spur, which is a bony spike on the back side of the leg, used for fighting. Turkeys have dark brown feathers on the entirety of their body, and males have a fanned tail used to attract mates. Some features that are characteristic to male turkeys are the caruncle, which is a brightly colored piece of flesh on the head and neck, the snood, which is a flappy piece of skin that protrudes from the beak, and a beard, which is a tuft of feathers that resemble a beard on the chest and neck.
Habitat: Turkeys need areas that are open for feeding, breeding and nesting. In addition, like all organisms, turkeys need water to survive which they are able to get from streams, lakes, and brooks. Also, turkeys are able to evade predators by roosting in trees or bushes that are high off the ground.
Diet: Wild turkeys will eat any food source that is available to them. They are omnivorous birds with a diet consisting of berries, grain, insects, grasses, roots, nuts, seeds, fruits, and occasionally small amphibians and reptiles
Behaviors:
Miscellaneous:
Habitat: Turkeys need areas that are open for feeding, breeding and nesting. In addition, like all organisms, turkeys need water to survive which they are able to get from streams, lakes, and brooks. Also, turkeys are able to evade predators by roosting in trees or bushes that are high off the ground.
Diet: Wild turkeys will eat any food source that is available to them. They are omnivorous birds with a diet consisting of berries, grain, insects, grasses, roots, nuts, seeds, fruits, and occasionally small amphibians and reptiles
Behaviors:
- Males display themselves to females by puffing out their feathers, spreading their fanned tail feathers, and dragging their wings
- Turkeys are not known for their flight, but will fly up to certain heights in trees and tall bushes in order to evade predators
- Turkeys have been seen courting in groups with a dominant male leading the group
- Wild turkeys will sometimes graze through croplands after harvest to eat the left over detritus
Miscellaneous:
- There are five subspecies of wild turkeys: Eastern, Osceola, Rio Grande, Merriam’s and Gould’s
- Turkeys can run at speeds of 25 miles per hour and can fly at speeds of 55 miles per hour