Hen turkey sounds11/23/2023 ![]() By the early 1900s, the species was extirpated (gone completely) from many areas, with only about 200,000 birds left. Overhunting and habitat loss led to steep declines in Wild Turkey populations during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Older birds have the longest, sharpest spurs. These bony projections grow up to two inches long and are used to fight for dominance and in self-defense. Male turkeys also sport curved spurs on their lower legs. A tom turkey can change the size and color of these ornamentations by contracting and relaxing small blood vessels in his head and neck. The male's bare head and neck are decorated with fleshy lobes of skin called wattles, as well as a protuberance on the forehead known as a snood. Mature gobblers can have beards over nine inches long. On his chest, a tom has a tuft of modified, filament-like feathers called a beard, which continues to grow as the bird ages. ![]() ![]() Male turkeys are called toms or gobblers, while females are known as hens. Photo by Dave Nelson, Shutterstock Wattles and Snoods Tom turkey's snood (on the forehead), wattles (on the neck) and beard (on the chest). Wild Turkeys introduced to the Hawaiian Islands have even learned to forage for crabs on the beaches! Wild Turkeys are omnivorous, foraging in flocks on the ground for a variety of nuts (particularly acorns), seeds, fruits, insects, and small vertebrates. Young turkeys, called poults, are precocial, meaning that they hatch fully feathered, with eyes open, and are able to scramble after adults mere hours after hatching. Once mated, a hen turkey lays her large clutch of 10 to 15 eggs in a shallow depression on the ground, concealed by grasses, vines, or other vegetation. Accessible at Wild Turkeys are polygynous: One male will mate with multiple females. Accessible at Wild Turkey hen with chicks by Paul Driver, XC70532. Accessible at Wild Turkey hen by Andrew Spencer, XC13619. (Audio: Wild Turkey males by Mary Beth Stowe, XC71044. Wild Turkey hen with chicks (Meleagris gallopavo).Wild Turkey hen calling (Meleagris gallopavo).Wild Turkey males displaying (Meleagris gallopavo).Listen to a male turkey gobble, plus other turkey sounds, here: Turkeys make a wide variety of other sounds, including clucks, purrs, and yelps. They also vocalize, emitting a series of loud gobbles to lure females from a distance and to discourage competing males. Males display for prospective mates by strutting back and forth with feathers puffed, wingtips lowered to the ground, and tails fanned. Turkey courtship begins in late March and early April. Later, additional domesticated turkeys were sent back across the ocean with returning English settlers in the 17 th century. Early European visitors to North America took domesticated Wild Turkeys from northern Mexico back to their home countries. ![]() (The Muscovy Duck is the other.)Īncient Mesoamericans were the first to domesticate Wild Turkey, using its meat and eggs as sources of protein and their feathers for decorative purposes. It is one of only two native North American bird species that have been domesticated. The species belongs to a large, diverse group of ground-dwelling birds that includes the Greater Prairie-Chicken, Great Curassow, and Northern Bobwhite. North America's Wild Turkey has six distinct subspecies, differing mainly in plumage details. Photo by valleyboi63, Shutterstock Ground-dwelling Group This was likely the Helmeted Guineafowl, a species that had reached Europe in the Middle Ages via trade with Turkey. This unlikely moniker was bestowed by early Europeans, who saw Wild Turkeys and were reminded of another ground-dwelling species they called the "Turkey bird," a guineafowl from Africa. The Wild Turkey really is named after the nation of Turkey. Franklin considered the Bald Eagle a bird of bad character, due to its habit of stealing other birds' prey. Turkey TalesĬontrary to popular myth, Benjamin Franklin never proposed the Wild Turkey as a national symbol, although he praised the species in a letter to his daughter, calling it “a much more respectable bird” than the Bald Eagle, which had already been nominated as the national bird. It's colorful, too - decked out in iridescent feathers of bronze, gold, and green, accented by colorful skin ornamentation and spurred legs.ĭespite its somewhat unwieldy appearance, the Wild Turkey is a fast runner and strong short-distance flyer, with excellent vision and an intelligent, wary nature that makes it elusive quarry. The Wild Turkey is the largest North American gamebird, weighing up to 20 pounds, with a wingspan of up to five feet. Thanks to concerted conservation efforts throughout the 20 th century, this native bird has been restored to most of its original haunts. The Wild Turkey, like the Osprey and Bald Eagle, has an inspiring comeback story. Wild Turkey range map by Birds of North America,, maintained by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology
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