Wildlife Watching Wednesday: The Extremely Wary Wild Turkey
By: Tom Berg
The wild turkey is a very large game bird that is native to the United States. They live in every state except Alaska. Their wingspan measures more than four feet across, and large adults often weigh over 20 pounds. Extremely large individuals can weigh as much as 25 pounds. They stand more than three feet tall and the males have a pronounced “beard” that dangles from their chest.
Turkeys are very dark in color and look almost black from a distance. They have white wing bars and tail feathers that are tipped with white or a cream color. Their dark feathers also have a brown or bronze iridescent hue, with hints of green iridescence, too. One of their most unusual features is the bare skin of their head and neck. No feathers grow there, and the skin color is usually red and blue, with hints of gray.
Although turkeys eat plenty of insects during the warm weather months, their preferred food source is nuts from trees like oak, hickory, beech and ash. Acorns seem to be their favorite. They also eat small fruits and berries and a wide variety of plant seeds. During the fall and winter they glean waste grain from harvested farmer’s fields, too.
Wild turkeys are extremely cautious and wary birds, and they have superior eyesight and hearing. A group of turkeys at the edge of a forest will quickly disappear at the first sight or sound of approaching humans or other predators. Turkeys have a field of vision of 300 degrees, and that’s without moving their head at all. As soon as they turn their head a little, they can see 360 degrees. Try and sneak up on a bird like that!
Their vision is so good that most hunters wear camouflage clothing from head to toe to elude the piercing eyes of the turkeys during hunting season. But they don’t stop there. They also use camouflage face paint and apply camouflage patterns to their shotguns, as well.
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