Everything Science Forum

An interesting bird and apparently ubiquitous in the US.

The Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) is a large gamebird, one of a number of species of turkey.

Adults have a bluish featherless small head, a red throat, long legs and a dark body. They have a long dark fan-shaped tail. Their wings are a glossy bronze. As with many other species of the Galliformes, they exhibit strong sexual dimorphism - males have red wattles on the throat and neck and are significantly larger than females.

The breeding habitat is wooded areas, usually with clearings, across most of the United States and parts of southern Canada, where they are permanent residents. They nest on the ground at the bottom of a tree, shrub or in tall grass.

The birds forage on the ground or climb shrubs to eat berries. They are omnivorous, eating acorns, seeds, berries, roots and insects, sometimes snakes, frogs or salamanders.

from Wikipedia

I took some pictures which appear to be of two females and several young.

Apparently, similar here in Oz are  alectura lathami...(if  one was here with regard to local politics...one woiuld have to larf...)...If not...one of em toddled in my back door today whilst was on the phone.....my dawg chased it around the  table and out the back door.  And no harm done to any crittur !

Yes! Ubiquitous indeed. We see them with fair regularity when we camp - Have seen them in Kentucky and most recently Utah, in Zion Nat'l park ...where they roost in the trees.  Well I suppose they roost in the  trees in lots of places, but it just seemed so odd in the middle of Utah.

Anyway, we've also seen babies following their mom as you show in one of your shots. Its such a darling behavior.