I have been starting to see images of turkeys everywhere, but mostly they are cartoon-like figures in advertisements for Thanksgiving, which is only a month away. Last week I encountered a small flock of actual Wild Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) while I was walking along one of the trails at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I have seen turkeys at multiple locations within the refuge and suspect that there are a number of resident flocks there.
The turkeys slowly moved into the underbrush as soon as they became aware of my presence, but I did manage to capture a few shots of one of them. I especially like the pattern of light and shadows in the background of the first image that was caused by the sunlight filtering through the trees. I took these shots during the middle of the day and the sunlight was relatively harsh in open areas, as you can see in the second image. It is a fun challenge to balance the light to get a decent exposure in situations like this when the lighting is so mixed.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.