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Eastern Wild Turkey(Meleagris gallopavo silvestris)

Since the eastern wild turkey ranges the farthest north,

individuals can also grow to be among the largest of any ofthe subspecies. The adult male, called a gobbler or tom, maymeasure up to 4 feet tall at maturity and weigh more than20 pounds. Its upper tail coverts, which cover the base of thlong tail feathers, are tipped with chestnut brown and tailtips with dark buff or chocolate brown. In contrast, the breafeathers are tipped in black. Other body feathers are characterized by rich, metallic, copper\bronze iridescence.

The primary wing feathers have white and black bars thextend from the outer edge of each all the way to the shaft.Secondary wing feathers have prominent white bars and aredged in white, producing a whitish triangular area on eachside of the back when the wings are folded on the back.

A mature female, called a hen, may be nearly as tall butusually lighter, weighing between 8 and 12 pounds. Femaleare similar in color to the males but more brown, and the mtallic reflections are less brilliant. Feathers of the hens breaflanks, and sides are tipped with brown rather than the blaand white tips of the male. The head of the female is considered feather covered with smaller, dark feathers extendingup from the back of the neck. Females lack the caruncles orfleshy protuberances of skin at the base of the front of theneck that are bright red on the male. Beards and spurs aregenerally considered secondary sex characteristics in malesBeards may be present on about 10 percent of the hens, how

ever, they are thinner and shorter than those of adult malesSpurs on hens are uncommon but, when present, are usualrounded and poorly developed.

The reproductive cycle for the eastern wild turkey usuallbegins in late February or early March in its southernmost

ABOVE:The eastern wildturkey inhabits the eastern

half of the United States.

LEFT:The gobbler exhibitsthe characteristic red, whiteand blue head, the black-tipped breast feathers andcopper/bronze iridescence.

The eastern wildturkey is the most widelydistributed, abundant,and hunted turkey sub-

species of the 5 distinctsubspecies found in the United States. It inhabits roughlythe eastern half of the country. The eastern wild turkey isfound in the hardwood, mixed, and pine forests from NewEngland and southern Canada to northern Florida and westto Texas, Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota. It has also beensuccessfully transplanted in California, Oregon, and Wash-ington, states outside its suspected original range.

L.J.P. Vieillot first described and named the easternsubspecies in 1817 using the word silvestris, meaningforest turkey.

Eastern gobblerwings folded on theback show a whitishtriangular patch.

PHOTO BY GLENNTINK SMITH

PHOTO BY BILL KINNEY

PHOTO BY JOHN HEIDECKER

Eastern wild turkeyare found in 38 statand four Canadianprovinces. It is themost abundant ofthe five subspeciesfound in the U.S.and Canada.

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habitats but not until April in northern states such as Vermontand other areas across the northern edge of turkey range. Like-wise, the cycle is complete with the hatching of poults by Juneor as late as mid-summer further north. Birds that renest maybring off broods as late as August.

Breeding behavior is triggered primarily by the increas-ing day length in spring, but unusually warm or cold spellsmay accelerate or slow breeding activity. This behavior beginswhile birds may still be in large winter flocks prior to separat-

ing as individuals or into small groups.The basic social organization of these flocks is determinedby a pecking order with the most dominate bird at the top andthe least on the bottom. Males and females have separate hier-archies, and there can be pecking orders within and betweenflocks of the same sex; while stable pecking orders withinflocks of the same sex seem to be common to all wild turkeysubspecies. Turkeys have home ranges, not territories whereindividuals defend space within a given habitat from othermembers of the same sex. Instead they fight for dominance rec-ognizing individuals within the pecking order while sharingoverlapping home ranges.

Courtship behavior patterns include gobbling and strut-

ting by the males. Gobbling attracts hens to males who courtthe hens by strutting. If the hen selects the gobbler for matingshe crouches, which signals the male to copulate. The firstpeak of gobbling activity is associated with the beginning ofthe breeding period when gobblers are searching for hens.The second peak occurs a few weeks later, when most hensbegin incubation.

Hens become secretive while searching for a site to nestprior to laying eggs. Laying hens may continue to feed withother hens and mate with gobblers, but this social activity willbe away from the nest site.

Nests are shallow depressions formedmostly by scratching, squatting, and layieggs rather than by purposeful construc-tion. The arrangement of twigs and leaveis minimal in sites chosen for their modeately dense understory which still allows

the hen a view but gives protection fromavian predators.

Laying a clutch of 10 - 12 eggs takesabout 2 weeks and unincubated eggs areusually covered with leaves. Continuousincubation begins about the time the lastegg is laid at which time the hen no longtries to conceal her eggs when she leavesfor short periods to feed.

The hen will incubate for 26 - 28 dayssitting quietly and moving about oncean hour to turn the eggs. Actual hatch-

ing begins with pippingthe poult rotating within the shell

chipping a complete break around the large end of the egg.Hens respond to the pipping sounds by making soft clucks arandom, a form of communication which begins to imprint

the poults to the henas she inspects theeggs and turns themDamp poults clumsilfree themselves fromthe egg but are fullydry and coordinatedso they can follow thhen away from the n

within 12 to 24 hoursafter hatching. This vcal communication btween hen and poultstill in the eggs is animportant part of thehatching process andis critical to survivalthe young.

Imprinting is aspecial form of learning which facilitatesthe rapid social deve

opment of the poultsinto adults. Its a stro

social bond between the hen and her offspring which occursup to 24 hours after hatching. Imprinting describes the rapidprocess by which the young poults learn to recognize theirspecies, essential for their survival. It happens only at this timand cannot be reversed.

Day-old poults learn to respond to the hens putt or alarmcall before leaving the nest and respond by freezing or run-ning to hide beneath her. The hen, clucking almost continualslowly leads her poults away from the nest until within a few

Courtship behavior patterns include gobbling and strutting by males

which, because of the wide distribution of the eastern subspecies, canoccur when there is still snow cover.

PHOTO BY BILL KINNEY

An eastern hen, darker and duller thanthe gobbler, with 3 poults about 2

weeks old.

PHOTO BY LLOYD B. HILL

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hours her pace is more normal. By now the poults have formedinto a brood group that is constantly feeding by pecking atfood items, a behavior learned from their mother.

By the second day out of the nest, wild turkey poults areperforming most of the characteristic feeding, movement, andgrooming behavior patterns. By the end of the first week they

are regularly dusting with the hen. By their second week theyare able to fly short distances and at the third week they areable to roost in low trees with the hen. The ability to roost intrees is an important event in the broods development as itremoves them from the danger of ground predators. Roostingoccurs at the beginning of another phase of rapid develop-ment, the acquisition of juvenile plumage and a change in dietfrom predominantly insects to a higher percentage of plantmatter. This phase of behavioral and physical developmentis accompanied by a sharp decline in poult mortality. Poultsthat survive the first six weeks have a much better chance ofsurviving to adulthood.

At age 14 weeks, male and female poults are distinguish-

able by body size and plumage. They have formed separatepecking orders although still dominated by the hen until allmales have finally left the brood group to form their ownsocial units.

By fall, the pecking order of the sibling groups has beenestablished and the young flocks are ready to enter the socialorganization of the surrounding population. The body growof juveniles ends by the beginning of winter when the flocksseparated by age and sex class, settle into winter range.

For additional information on this subject refer to The

Wild Turkey Biology and Management, edited by Jim DicksThe book is available for $59.95 from the National Wild TurkeFederation, call 1-800-THE-NWTF, or visit www.nwtf.org.

Financial support for this publication was provided in part by National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Federal Cartridge and Willife Forever and published by the National Wild Turkey Federation

The Eastern wild turkey can be foundin the states shaded dark blue onthe map of the United States andthe province of Ontario in Canada.

770 Augusta Road, Edgefield, SC 29824 803-637-3106 www.nwtf.1