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Wild Turkey

Meleagris gallopavo

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46.9135, -95.6648

Field Notes

Description:

Wild Turkeys are very large, plump birds with long legs, wide, rounded tails, and a small head on a long slim neck. Turkeys are dark overall with a bronze-green iridescence to most of their plumage. Their wings are dark, boldly barred with white. Their rump and tail feathers are broadly tipped with white. The bare skin of the head and neck varies from red to blue to gray.

Habitat:

Wild turkeys live in mature forests, particularly nut trees such as oak, hickory, or beach, interspersed with edges and fields. They can often be seen along roads.

Notes:

I saw this female wild turkey along Hwy. 29 near the west edge of Pine Lake. The restoration of the wild turkey over the past 25 years is one of Minnesota's greatest conservation success stories. In 1782, the turkey lost by a single vote to the bald eagle to become the national bird.

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Photographed
PublishedJuly 2, 2013

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