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Wild Turkey
Meleagris gallopavo
38.9534, -84.0849
Field Notes
Description:
The wild turkey is Ohio’s largest upland game bird, standing three to four feet tall and weighing up to 24 pounds. It has a slim build, long neck, and nearly featherless head. The body feathers appear drab brown at a distance, but are actually iridescent when the bird appears in good light; this iridescence gives the bird its true coloration--bronze with hints of red, green, copper, and gold. The large tail is brown with a black band at the tip. Adult males (gobblers) have a reddish head, a long, tasseled “beard” that dangles from the breast, black-tipped breast feathers, and spurs on the legs. Female (hen) turkeys, have a bluish head, usually no beard, buff-tipped breast feathers, and no spurs. (www.ohiodrn.gov)
Habitat:
Wild turkeys are very adaptable animals. Although they prefer mature forests, with substantial cover and suitable food sources, they can live successfully in areas with as little as 15 percent forest cover. The feeding area should include a mix of forbs, grasses, and insects. Wild turkeys make a variety of sounds, including a male’s gobble, the hen’s yelp, a poult’s peep, an alarm call that sounds like putt, and an assortment of purrs, trills, croaks, whines, and barks. The best known of these vocalizations is the gobble. (www.ohiodnr.gov)
Notes:
Turkey nests are most often in dense cover near an open area, and are made in a small depression in the ground and lined with leaves.The hen will lead the young poults to open areas for several weeks to feed. Turkeys usually feed in flocks of family units or groups of adults, scratching through leaf litter for insects, fruits, and acorns. Occasionally they will feed in a vine or tree. Most wild turkey broods will remain together for four or five months. Young females may stay with the hen until the following spring at the start of breeding season. (www.ohiodnr.gov)
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