During my recent trips to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge I have been seeing a lot of Wild Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo). Most of the time they have been in small groups, but occasionally I will run across one that seems to be alone or maybe simply separated temporarily from its group.
In the first photos, you will notice the long “beards” of two of the turkeys, which suggest that they are mature males. Generally flocks of turkeys are separated by gender and by age, so these may all be mature males, though the one on the left looks to be smaller than the other three, though that might simply be a factor of the viewing angle. The turkey in the second photo has a shorter “beard” and may be a jake, the term used for an immature male turkey.
It is interesting to watch wild turkeys. They seem slow and deliberate in all that they do, strutting and poking about for food. Even when they are spooked, they don’t accelerate quickly as most birds do, but instead they slowly fade into the underbrush.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
These guys are known to stop traffic around here. Both my wife and I have been stopped by a flock. In case you’re wondering, my wife’s Kia Soul didn’t give her a great deal of comfort when several came up to her door.
I also drive a KIA Soul, so I know exactly how you wife might feel about its lack of protection. 🙂
I remembered that you drove a Soul.
Nice Mike! All our Wild Turkeys in our Condo Association have disappeared! They used to be everywhere here. The foxes did them in.
Thanks, Reed. We seem to have a lot of Wild Turkeys at that refuge. One of my friends said that coyotes wiped out a number of foxes several years ago. I don’t know if coyotes eat wild turkeys, but I have been told the coyotes are there. I have not seen any, but I think I heard several of them recently. After a vehicle with a loud siren went by, I hear a lengthy chorus of eerie howls coming from the middle of a large field.
This post makes me wonder how the wild turkeys and animals in general on Mt. Lemmon are doing, re Big Horn Fire.
Who knows? Some species are amazingly resilient, but others may be gone if their habitat was entirely destroyed.
Nice photographs, Mike. We’re encountering more turkeys here as the fall approaches. It’s pretty neat to be walking along just before sunrise and encounter a couple of dozen gobblers roosting up in the trees. They sure can be noisy!
Thanks. I guess I need to get out earlier, Wally. I have seen a turkey in a tree only a couple of times.
They look very dignified and elegant as they stroll on the road.
That’s s great description, Nina, of the posture of the turkeys as they strut about with their heads held high.
We saw several large flocks in Colorado. Thanks for reminding me what is always nearby though I do not always see them. We have them in our Ohio neighborhood green space, too.
It’s pretty amazing, Molly, how much wildlife exists and actually thrives in a suburban environment. Sometimes, though, you have to look really hard to find some species that are adept at hiding.
On a walk last week we were surprised to see a few wild turkeys that our presence had startled out of the understory. I rarely come across wild turkeys.