Wild Turkey
Meleagris gallopavo
The Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) is a common partridges, pheasants, grouse, and alli found in 35 countries, weighing about 5.8 kg. The wild turkey is an upland game bird native to North America, one of two extant species of turkey and the heaviest member of the order Galliformes.
About the Wild Turkey
The wild turkey is an upland game bird native to North America, one of two extant species of turkey and the heaviest member of the order Galliformes. It is the ancestor to the domestic turkey, which was originally derived from a southern Mexican subspecies of wild turkey.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
How to identify it
An adult male (tom or gobbler) normally weighs from 5 to 11 kg (11 to 24 lb) and measures 100–125 cm (39–49 in) in length. The adult female (hen) is typically much smaller at 2.5–5.4 kg (5.5–11.9 lb) and is 76 to 95 cm (30 to 37 in) long. Per two large studies, the average weight of adult males is 7.6 kg (17 lb) and the average weight of adult females is 4.26 kg (9.4 lb). The record-sized adult male wild turkey, according to the National Wild Turkey Federation, weighed 16.85 kg (37.1 lb), with records of tom turkeys weighing over 13.8 kg (30 lb) uncommon but not rare. Voice: Wild turkeys have many calls: assembly call, gobble, plain yelp, purr, cluck and purr, cluck, cutt, excited yelp, fly-down cackle, tree call, kee kee run, and putt. In early spring, males older than a year old and, occasionally to a lesser extent, males younger than a year old gobble to announce their presence to females and competing males.
What the Wild Turkey sounds like
Where it lives
Recorded as a rare visitor in Taiwan, Colombia, Germany, Argentina, Spain, Belgium, Chile, India, Czechia, Italy, Peru, Türkiye, United Kingdom, Portugal, Algeria, Kenya, Madagascar, Panama, United Arab Emirates, Netherlands, Ukraine.
When to see it
The Wild Turkey can be seen all year round, with peak activity in May. It is a resident species across most of its range.
Easily confused with
Quick questions
- How do you identify a Wild Turkey?
- An adult male (tom or gobbler) normally weighs from 5 to 11 kg (11 to 24 lb) and measures 100–125 cm (39–49 in) in length. Full identification notes are on this page.
- How big is a Wild Turkey?
- The Wild Turkey is a huge sized bird weighing about 5.8 kg.
- Where can you see a Wild Turkey?
- The Wild Turkey occurs in 35 countries, including the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Mexico and Australia.
- What does a Wild Turkey sound like?
- You can listen to 3 field recordings of the Wild Turkey on this page, contributed to xeno-canto under open licences.
- What birds look similar to a Wild Turkey?
- The Wild Turkey is most easily confused with the Ocellated Turkey.
- Is the Wild Turkey endangered?
- The Wild Turkey is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.
Learn the Wild Turkey for real
BeakBrain drills you on photos and calls until you can greet this bird by name in the field. Free to play, on any device.
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