Wild Turkeys in our Garden

It does not have to be Thanksgiving to be turkey time. It is turkey time all year round where we live by the Mission Peak Regional Preserve in Northern California.

My first encounter with a wild turkey Mealeagris gallopavo was 7 years ago when a large bird flew over my head and startled me with the loud flapping sounds of its wings. It landed at the top of a tall fir tree in my backyard and roosted there for a while. At first, I thought it was a large bird of prey like an eagle or a hawk because I never knew that wild turkeys could fly. Now I am so accustomed to see flocks of wild turkeys strutting their stuff in our front yard, back yard, rooftop and on the hill across my home.

In this lens, I am sharing some of the snapshots I took of these wild turkeys around my home. They are so much fun to watch.

No, this wild male turkey did not put on a green suit for St. Patrick's Day. He heard my camera clicking away, hesitated, and posed for me behind this rounded bush in the frontyard.

In the summer, the hills are parched and the grass dry as this small flock of wild turkey hunt for lizards, insects, and snakes. There are lot of tiny field mice that live in this open space which are open targets for these hungry bunch.

Wild turkeys observe same-sex flocks, meaning females hang out with females, and the males hang out with their own kinds. Turkeys also observe a pecking order or social ranking in which each bird is dominant over or "pecks on" birds of lesser social status.

The flock in this photo are all gobblers because of the obvious beards and the red-colored heads.

I was able to catch these toms hunting and pecking in an open field on Rancho Higuera Park in our neighborhood. They were digging for tubers (chufa), a grass-like fleshly underground roots for their meal.

These male turkeys have a brightly colored heads, often with a lot of red which change colors during the breeding season. The colors change as often as every few seconds from blue to white to red. These are the colors of the American flag. It is no wonder Benjamin Franklin named this game bird our national bird.

The mature male turkeys have beards, a hair-like cluster of feathers protruding from the middle of the turkey's chest. The beards are apparent upon close inspection of the picture. The spurs on the back of the legs are still short. Upon maturity, these spurs will be used for establishing dominance and fighting.The female turkey does not have spurs and a beard.

Female wild turkeys (called hens) are smaller and slimmer than the males. They do not have the breast tuft (beard), have a grayish head, feathered neck, and duller feathers, mostly brownish and black. The ladies are not as pretty and showy as the males.

Photo Credit:Charlie Day DaytimeStudios

During mating season, which is around February to March, the toms or gobblers fluff their body feathers, spread their tails like fans, strut around while making gobbling sounds to attract the hens. The female turkeys go wild over this kind of behavior. The males usually have harems of five or more females to mate with during the spring and early summer breeding season. This photo was taken at the Rancho Higuera Park in Fremont, California.

Behind the trees is Mission Peak Regional Preserve where these wild turkeys call home. Small flocks would parade around the sidewalk, visit a few neighborhood frontyards including ours. This picture was taken inside the house after my calico cat, Mali alerted me that some strange visitors were lurking around the yard.

These pictures were taken on Nov.12, 2011.

These two hens make a pretty picture with their slim bodies and gray and brown feathers. These are considered drab colors compared to the iridescent bluish-gray, bronze and gold feathers of the gobblers. However, the drab color make a great comouflage and hide the hens when they sit on their nest.

Wild turkeys are agile flyers and this one landed on top of the backyard trellis where the hummingbird feeders were. The loud commotion caused by its flapping wings quickly dispersed all the other winged creatures in the garden.

The wild turkeys usually pick fairly tall, open trees that have horizontal branches for them to perch on. This one flew to this fir tree in our backyard, roosted and made tree calls which sounded like muffled yelps as a call to communicate with others in the flock.

The scratching sounds on the roof usually means the wild turkeys are at it again--roosting on the roof and leaving unwanted souvenirs.

Wild turkeys are single-gender flocks, meaning the females hang out with the females, and the males with the males. These two hens have brown feathers and the males have black-tipped feathers.

This wild turkey hen looks gorgeous from behind as she contorts her body to preen and groom, condition and waterproof her feathers. The toms are not too far away getting ready for their courtship dances in the open field across the street.

Three female wild turkeys (hens) were crossing the street as this lone cassanova attempted to get their attention with its courtship dance.

The gobbler sees the hens, struts around the females, fans his tail, lowered his wings and drags the tips on the ground. The female wild turkey nonchalantly went on her merry way.

This male wild turkey has an iridescent bronze body feathers and black and white bars on its wings. It has a bare head that is red and blue depending on the season, and a red wattle that hangs from the chin. What a lovely bird. I was so lucky to capture this in-your-face shot before the disappointed tom left in a huff.