Wild Turkey Meleagris gallopavo

Identification Tips:

• Length: 34 inches
• Very large, small-headed, round-winged, long-tailed, ground-dwelling bird
• Unfeathered bluish head and reddish throat
• Dark breast, belly and upper back
• Iridescent bronze and green wings
• Barred primaries
• Dark, fan-shaped tail with brown or buff band at tip

Adult male:

• Larger head with wattle at throat, caruncled forehead, and projection behind the bill
• More iridescent plumage

Similar species:

Too large to be confused with any other bird.

Length and wingspan from: Robbins, C.S., Bruun, B., Zim, H.S., (1966). Birds of North America. New York: Western Publishing Company, Inc.

Above information used courtesy of United States Geological Survey.