Eastern Turkey (Wild Turkey)

The eastern turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) is a large upland ground bird native to North America. It inhabits hardwood forests with scattered clearings, where it spends time foraging low to the ground or roosting in flocks in tall trees. These wild birds are loud and vocal, expressing themselves with various noises.

5 Amazing Eastern Turkey Facts

• Males have large featherless, reddish heads, necks, and wattles, with fleshy growths called caruncles.
• Unlike the domestic variety, wild turkeys are solid and agile fliers.
• Males don’t assist in caring for their young. Poults follow after their mother and learn how to fend for themselves right after hatching.
• The eastern turkey is the most hunted subspecies of wild turkey.
• They forage with other animals like deer and squirrels, helping them stay more alert to predators as they feed.

Where to Find Eastern Turkey

The eastern turkey lives in North America in three countries: Canada, the United States, and Mexico. The eastern subspecies inhabits the entire eastern half of the United States from Maine to Northern Florida and as far west as Minnesota, Illinois, and Missouri. Its Canadian range extends into Southeastern Ontario and Southwestern Quebec. They live in hardwood forests with scattered openings like pastures, fields, orchards, and seasonal marshes. They prefer oak-hickory, red oak, beech, cherry, and white ash in the Northeast. Look for them foraging on the ground or walking along small bushes and trees, and listen for their many vocalizations.

Nests

Females search for nest sites, which are shallow dirt depressions surrounded by woody vegetation. They typically place their eggs on a pile of twigs and sticks.

Classification and Scientific Name

The eastern turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) is a subspecies of wild turkey from the Galliformes order, which includes heavy-bodied ground-feeding birds like turkeys, chickens, and quail. The Phasianidae family has many of the most popular game fowl. Meleagris is the turkey genus, encompassing North America’s wild turkey and Mexico’s ocellated turkey. There are six recognized subspecies of wild turkey: Eastern, Osceola, Rio Grande, Merriam’s, Gould’s, and South Mexican.

Size, Appearance, & Behavior

Eastern turkeys are large upland ground birds, measuring 30 to 49 inches long and weighing 5.5 to 24 pounds, with a 4.1 to 4.9-foot wingspan. Females are much smaller than males, weighing eight pounds less on average. Adults have black or gray-brown feathers with a coppery sheen. Males have large featherless, reddish heads, necks, and wattles, with fleshy growths called caruncles. These parts, along with the snood (fleshy flap on the bill), become engorged when excited. They have long, fan-shaped tails, and their feathers have bronze, gold, red, purple, and iridescent areas. Females have duller feathers in shades of brown and gray.

Wild turkeys are loud, vocal birds who express themselves with many sounds, from gobbles, yelps, clucks, purrs, low-pitched drumming, and “spits” (sharp expulsions of air from the air sac). Their gobbles can be heard from a mile away. Despite their significant size, they are fast, agile fliers. You may see them flying under the canopy, searching for a perch, or gliding low to the ground. These birds are relatively social, roosting in flocks and foraging with other animals like deer and squirrels. 

Migration Pattern and Timing

Eastern turkeys are nonmigratory. They may move to areas with larger trees and closed canopies for increased warmth during the fall and winter.

Diet

The eastern turkey is an omnivore that forages in the early morning and late afternoon.

What Does Eastern Turkey Eat?

These wild turkeys eat acorns and nuts from various trees like hazel, chestnut, hickory, and pine. They also consume seeds, berries, buds, leaves, roots, grasses, and insects. They will occasionally eat amphibians, salamanders, snakes, and lizards. They forage on the ground or in low bushes and small trees. You can often find them feeding in cow pastures or visiting backyard feeders. 

Predators, Threats, and Conservation Status

The IUCN lists the eastern turkey as LC or “least concern”. Due to its extensive range and large, increasing population, this species does not meet the “threatened” status thresholds. They do not face any severe threats currently. But they may suffer from the future effects of climate change and urbanization. The eastern turkey is the most heavily hunted subspecies of wild turkey.

What Eats Eastern Turkey?

Wild turkey eggs and nestlings are vulnerable to raccoons, opossums, skunks, foxes, groundhogs, and snakes. Poults (young poultry) can be attacked by raptors, such as owls, hawks, and bald eagles. Adult eastern turkey predators include great horned owls, northern goshawks, domestic dogs, cats, coyotes, wolves, bobcats, golden eagles, and alligators. Wild turkeys and their young often run away when threatened, but they may lash out aggressively when cornered. They can kick with their legs and use their bony spurs as weapons. They may also bite with their beaks and ram with their bodies as a last effort.

Reproduction, Young, and Molting

Male eastern turkeys are polygamous and mate with as many hens as possible. They perform their courtship rituals during March and April while they are still flocked for winter. Males strut, gobble, boom, drum, and spit to show dominance and attract mates. Hens lay 10 to 14 whitish eggs and incubate them for 28 days. Their young, or poults, fledge the nest 12 to 24 hours after hatching. However, they stay with their mother for around four months. Males, or “toms,” become sexually mature at seven months old, and hens around one to two years old. Their average lifespan is seven years, but they can survive up to 13.

Population

The global eastern turkey population is unknown, but their numbers have significantly increased in North America over the last 40 years. They are also not experiencing extreme fluctuations or fragmentations in their populations.