For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character . . . For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America . . .
—Benjamin Franklin, 1784
Running down the road was this really cool wild Turkey. I don’t know which type of wild turkey he/she is-more than likely a Merriam. (Rio Grandes have tan tail feathers) There are several wild turkey varieties in Colorado but the Merriam is more than likely around where we live.
I wasn’t fast enough to get a photo of the send off (flight) but I did get the bird’s tail as it came down.
Two species, the Merriam’s and the Rio Grande can be found in Colorado; although the Merriam is much more prevalent, comprising nearly 90% of the 25,000 wild turkeys in the state of Colorado.
The Merriam prefers scrub oak and juniper/pinion areas.
A pretty cool sight for a chilly afternoon walk.
Linda
Life on a Colorado Farm 
Yes, we also have quite a few wild turkeys, we usually see them once hunting season is over and before. The poor son wants one but just can’t seem to sight them when it is hunting season. I also had a girlfriend have one of them suckers fly into her wind shield and break it.
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How cool! Back when I was in California, along with the sheep, ducks, and goats, I had a pet Turkey – he was a great guy!
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Hi Linda
I think I should have asked this question to US friends many years ago, so now is a grand opportunity.
Here we have bush (wild) turkeys whick make big mounds to hatch their eggs, do your turkeys do the
same? Here bush turkeys are the scourge of many suburban gardeners, they can up-root shrubs in the
blink of an eye and the mess they make when roosting in trees of a night, is NOT appreciated.
I think many suburban home owner who is garden proud would prefer to see them as shown by you
in paddocks far away from suburbia. In my area, we sometimes get the obviously “lost” odd one roaming
around.
Interesting report, Linda.
Cheers
Colin (HB)
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Great Pictures! I see them around SW MO and even in the Corporate grounds where I work, from time to time. I also saw one flying acros the highway in front of me on a trip across central MO last summer. Beautiful.
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Those are something we don’t see here although a neighbor up river from us tried to get a bunch situated there. Would they be good eating?
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Awesome photo.
We have wild turkeys here in North Carolina, too, but I’ve never seen that many at any given time.
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Neat pictures, Linda!! That is a beautiful bunch of turkeys, and thanks for the little lesson on kinds of wild turkeys. I didn’t know that. Too much open farm land around here for turkeys, but just a few miles away in some of the scrub mesquite they can be seen.
Blessings!
CottonLady
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Hi Linda, Great pictures of the turkeys. We have some wild turkeys around here also –but unless we hike back in the woods a little ways, we never see them. They don’t come out to the more populated areas…
Sounds like you had a wonderful walk.
Hugs,
Betsy
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Much better birds than the big breasted white birds raised for food. Those creatures are so inbred they have no brain and can’t fly. As much as I love turkey meat I feel sorry for them. Wild turkeys are remarkable birds as long as they stay in the wild.
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We have wild turkeys here, Merriams. They are interesting to watch,especially when the toms ar strutting. They are not our favorite birds here on our ranch and others in the area. We have an over abundance of the destructive, nasty things! If they just stayed in the creek bottoms that might be ok. They don’t though, they invade hay yards where they tear apart the bales and also “poop” on them. When we roll hay out for the cattle, they take a turn at it too. After they’ve left their messes, the cattle don’t want to eat the hay and I can’t blame them. We had a decline in the turkey population for two years,due to drought and a bad winter. Now it has rebounded in earnest.
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I was wondering if there were turkeys here. I work south of montrose just a little ways and swore I heard turkeys the other day:) We must be prity close to each other then:)
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We’ve got a couple of flocks here on the island, one of which lives fairly close. Don’t count on them moving out of the road when you approach them in the car – they just stand there and look at you…
There are wild turkeys that live on Boston Common, too. People thought it was cool until they started tying-up traffic!
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We always have turkey around here, but they look smaller than yours; the Eastern Wild Turkey. What a wonderful size! Do you guys ever eat them?
~Faith
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It’s like 2 degrees out, whatever are you doing walking around out there?
We almost hit a bunch of turkeys in Tennessee once. I laughed for week about how I would have had to explain that to the insurance company.
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We had a wild turkey that nested in the shrubbery of our office complex. She usually had 3 or 4 babies and brought them by daily to stare into our windows until we threw them treats. The daddy was a big bird that hated motorcycles. There was a fellow across the parking lot from us who rode a motorcycle to work. The turkey perched on it during the day. When the fellow had to start it to go home, the turkey chased him across the parking lot. Then the bird discovered a police substation just down the road where there were LOTS of motorcycles to chase. At that point, I think he was trapped and relocated to the countryside. Didn’t see the female last year, either. There are big flocks of wild turkeys in the rural area where I live, but they stay close to the river. I’ve always wanted to find a couple of eggs and raise the babies for pets. I LOVE turkeys, but the commercial breeds don’t hold up well, they’re too big.
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Wonderful – we don’t have wild turkeys here – just the ones we eat at Christmas!
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We have several flocks in our area..I did not realize there were different kinds of wild ones..thanks Linda..Oh and yes, go ahead and link to my Forgotten Old Photo Blog..:)
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We occasionally see wild turkeys around here, but never so many at one time. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one fly — they usually just run off into the woods.
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Very cool, and thats one big flock. Think they know thanksgiving is over..;-)
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