Wild "White" Turkey
Another view of same bird as below.
The Flycatcher
To describe my lifelong fascination with flight and with creatures that fly I like to echo the words of John James Audubon who in 1839 wrote of himself as "...one who never can cease to admire and to study with zeal and the most heartfelt reverence, the wonderful productions of an Almighty Creator."
Sunday, January 21, 2007
12 Comments:
Either she's partly Royal Palm ( Heritage domestic)or she's --Hooray!!!-- one of "Benjamin's" grand-daughters. Benjamin was from a Rio/Merriams bloodline that carries the so-called Narragansett gene which blocks expression of the red/brown/bronzing pigments. This variant occurs 10-15% of the time in sevral wild turkey populations. Benjamin escaped from his owners in the company of three undomesticated Wild hens about 6 years ago, in the same general area where this turkey hen was seen, and was last seen hustling through a cherry orchard in the direction of a larger flock of wild hens. The hen in the photo looks very much like Benjamin's mother.
Thanks for the background info. Is Benjamin still around? How will I know him if I see him?
This post is a year old, but anyway, I saw one of these when hunting some Hybrids (they are either Merriam or Rio because they have white tail feathers) in central Nebraska.
While hunting in NW ALabama this week I saw one of these White Turkeys. My first time to see one. The other hunter I was with that was familiar with the area and had hunted it many times before said he had spotted one approx 4 years ago in the same area. Knowing the life span of turkeys, I ams sure the one we saw this weekend was an off spring of the one he saw. It sure makes you rub your eyes and second guess yourself when first spotting one.
I seen a flock of ten hen turkeys while bowhunting in North Dakota and 3 of them were this color. Crazy!
I am in Oklahoma and I have three hens that are wild. They tend to stay on my property most of the time.
I have a group of wild turkeys feeding out of my bird feeder and 2 in the group are white. Never heard of them before but it is so. I took pictures of them feeding. they look so pretty. Nature always has something to make us all stop and enjoy.
I don't know how old the original post is but I got online to learn more about wild white turkeys. I've lived at my current address for a year now and we have a flock of 11 wild turkeys make their way through our backyard everyday. Two of them are white... Half white I should say. Their wings and backs are white but their lower section is a normal wild turkey color.
I live in eastern Kansas and have recently seen two pure white turkeys in a flock of normal colored wild turkeys. They have the same body form as the the other turkeys. It is the first time I ever seen wild white turkeys.
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I see this post is from 2007. today is 9/28/2014 and I raise Rio grand Turkeys in southern Texas (south of Houston) I bought some new hens to add to my pre existing flock 2 yrs ago this oct. In the new group I have two of the hens. they are two years old now and are great hens. they have successfully hatched clutches out and 2 of the poults were white as well. Unforunatky both white poults just died about 3 weeks old. all the normal colored poults survived. I ran across this thread and thought I might because my girls look just like the one in the pic. I raise deer as well and am very familiar with the Leucistic gene that deer have.
Well I'm in a pickle , Someone Dumped Yes Dumped three turkeys on my property one is wild but domesticated and two whites , 2 males one female . I don't know what I'm going to do with them this winter , I'm in Ohio and I think we're going to have a bad winter . I don't want them butchered , I know its silly , They strut around here so proud !
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