On Friday I spotted a flock of Wild Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. At least one of them was not very happy—perhaps the turkey knew that Thanksgiving Day is fast approaching.
The turkeys were all clustered together, so it was impossible to isolate one for a cleaner shot. I was happy, though, to be able to capture the beautiful coloration and patterns of the turkeys’ feathers.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
They better keep their heads low for a month or so. Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners – they should avoid. 🙂
Wow, I never get clean shots of them, always running away. Real nice 👍👍👍
But are wild turkeys ever happy? Any time I have ever encountered them, they have been cranky at best and aggressive at worst.
I’ve yet to run across any aggressive ones. Mostly they just slowly make their way into the undergrowth when they detect my presence. 🙂
Now you’ve got me wondering if they just hate me specifically. 😂 It could be genetics since my Dad has a significant turkey phobia.
Nice photo. I’ve only seen them from a distance or when they block traffic.
Lovely! Their feather colors are conveniently coordinated with the foliage for your shot 😉
Very nice Mike! Reminds of the turkeys that used to roam around in our community.
Nice capture showing off those feathers, Mikel
I hope they manage to hide in time, they are really too nice for the butcher knife 😉
Fortunately there is no hunting permitted on the wildlife refuge where I took this shot, so these turkeys are safe from the butcher’s knife. 🙂
Aren’t their feathers just wonderful? I miss the bad boys that used to strut around our neighborhood in Omaha.
The feathers are indeed amazing, Gary. It is not the right season for the males to be displaying, but I am amazed whenever I see them spread their magnificent tail feathers as in this posting from a few years ago. https://michaelqpowell.com/2018/04/03/displaying-wild-turkey/
Great capture!! Lucky him 🦃
When I see a hen like that one, all I can think is “Bitch, bitch, bitch.” Oops. Yes I wrote that 😉
🙂
Happy Thanksgiving! Great pictures. Talking about wild Turkey. My Thanksgiving message to my American friends is to be like a wild Turkey. I am sure you will be a bit puzzled by this message. I invite you to read the full article I wrote on this subject to understand my Thanksgiving Message – https://authorjoannereed.net/thanksgiving-message-be-like-a-wild-turkey/. I also talked about this beautiful tradition of granting a pardon to a lucky Turkey started by President Lincoln in my article. Feel free to check it out!
Thanks, Joanne. Your article is full of fascinating information and observations. Thanks for pointing it out to me.
Thank you Mike for stopping by and for your kind words of appreciation 😊🙏! Stay tuned-in more to come