Traffic would often stop along the road to view the spectacle.
Sometimes upward of 50 birds would be together at one time--stretched across Jan's front yard.
During the months of February and March it was a wonder that the
gobblers (the mature males) didn't starve to death because they'd spend all their time strutting and displaying for the hens.
During courtship displays the
gobblers fan their tail feathers, puff-up all over, drag their wingtips and the normally blue-colored tissues around their
head and neck become engorged with blood--turning a fiery red color. The engorged tissues along the front of their neck
are called wattles. Bumpy areas are called caruncles.
When it comes to their Snood,
size matters....
There is a unique
fleshy structure atop the gobbler's beak that expands and hangs down as a fleshy flap during courtship displays. This
appendage is known as a snood. In wild turkeys it may expand from a 3/4" pointed bump atop
their beak to a 2" - 4" long, fat, worm-like flap that changes color from blue to red near its tip. A university
researcher studying this phenomenon decided that its purpose is to demonstrate virility and to assist in establishing "pecking
order" among competing males without them having to engage in battle. Those with the longest snood
are often favored by the hens and recognized as the dominant males by other gobblers. In gobblers, it seems, size does
matter.
.
.
.
.
Mature gobblers also have a "beard."
The beard is actually a single feather protruding from their breast. The beard is composed of bristly feather materials.
Beards grow at a rate of up to 5" per year but because they drag on the ground while the turkeys feed, they rarely get longer
than about 9" - 12". Females can have beards but this is uncommon. Click here to see a photo of a female (hen) with a beard.
Gobblers also grow "spurs" on their legs. Like the spurs on roosters
(male chickens), turkey spurs are sharp and up to 1-1/2" long. They can be used for defense but, in the case of turkeys,
studies suggest gobblers rarely injure one another this way. Females may occasionally have a short spur--usually only
on one leg. Look carefully at the legs of the birds in the SmugMug photo gallery and you'll be able to see the spurs
on the legs of the gobblers.
Trivia
- Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter to his daughter suggesting the
wild turkey would be a better national bird symbol than the bald eagle. Read it here.
- Jan's cats "stalk" the turkeys. Look for those photos in the gallery.
- Wild turkeys can fly very well (domestic turkeys generally cannot fly).
We've seen them fly straight up for over 50' to get over trees before beginning to move horizontally. Each evening they
fly up into tops of trees to roost.
- When Jan "gobbles" around the displaying males, they'll often "gobble" right
back at her! Typically all the males will gobble in perfect synchronization.
- Turkeys do "purr." When they are content they often make a sound that
is much like the purring of a cat. Click here to open a webpage where you can read about the various sounds turkeys make and
listen to them online--including the purring sound.
We hope you've enjoyed this feature
about Jan's wild turkeys. Be sure to visit our photo gallery where there are about 40 photos we've selected for your viewing pleasure.
Remember, "If they purr, they have
every right to...."
Excerpted from "In Her Own Words: Jan's
Story About the Wild Turkeys"
In case you missed it earlier...
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