Male Wild Turkey

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Male Wild Turkey

March 10, 2018 by Mike Powell

I heard some rustling deep in the heavy brush this morning at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge and then caught sight of some bright colors—it was a male wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) along with several females. Focusing manually, I managed to get this shot.

Although I would have liked to get an unobstructed view of this magnificent bird, I actually like the way that the blurry vegetation creates a soft vignette that draws the viewer to the head of the turkey.

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Canon 50D, Meleagris gallopavo, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, turkey, Wild Turkey, Woodbridge VA | 9 Comments

9 Responses

on March 10, 2018 at 9:18 pm | Reply shoreacres

I think it’s a wonderful portrait, Mike. The turkey looks more like a bird here, and less like an icon. The green and beige are a perfect foil for his colorful head.
- on March 10, 2018 at 9:46 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks. I’m pretty happy to have seen a male. For a while last fall I saw the wild turkeys regularly, but they all seemed to be females or juveniles.
on March 10, 2018 at 9:33 pm | Reply Timothy Paul Westbrook

Nice pic. How did you get that close?
- on March 10, 2018 at 9:45 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  I wasn’t as close as it looks. 🙂 I was shooting with a 600mm lens on my Canon 50D, which has a crop sensor, so I had the field of view of a 960mm lens. My guess is that I was about 50 feet away at least. The vegetation was thick enough that I don’t think the turkeys were aware of my presence initially.
  - on March 10, 2018 at 9:55 pm Timothy Paul Westbrook
    
    And it’s probably not turkey season yet! I’ve had several hens and Jake come close but not a gobbler like that
  - on March 10, 2018 at 10:05 pm Mike Powell
    
    I think that there was another big male back in the brush too–I saw a big round tail nearby, but there was too clutter for me to see its body. The turkeys remained hidden all winter and I’m hoping I will be seeing them again regularly.
on March 11, 2018 at 5:27 am | Reply blhphotoblog

I agree Mike that framing looks good, with woodland birds you have to accept branches, twigs etc and make the most of it, well caught.
on March 11, 2018 at 8:46 pm | Reply Jodi

Oh wow! I love how this turned out!!
- on March 12, 2018 at 7:18 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Jodi. Any time that I have to resort to manual focusing with my DSLR is an adventure. The vegetation between me and the turkey was so thick, though, that the camera had trouble focusing on the turkey. I was happy to be able to find a little visual tunnel that allowed me a pretty good view of the turkey’s face and wasn’t too concerned about the rest. I like the overall feel of the image, although my inner critic wishes is was a bit sharper.