Large, dark ground-dwelling bird
Long, powerful legs
Large, fan-shaped tail
Bare head and neck
Short, slightly down curved bill
Tip of tail chestnut-brown (in East) or white (in Southwest)
Size: 43-45 in
Wingspan: 49-57 in
Weight: 88-381 ounces
Male larger, with much more prominent beard, head and neck completely bare, often bluish

Syllables:   wild  tur-key
Pronunciation:   waild  tuhr ki

NOTES

1.  Price (See above)

2.  Price is for print only. Price does not taxes**.

3.  At this time framing is not an option available online.

4.  All sales in US dollars.

5.  New York State residents must include sales tax**

** Tax will be applied to orders shipped to New York State.

The Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo)
is a large game bird, 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.

Male birds display for females by puffing out their feathers, spreading out their tails, inflating the wattles on their neck and drooping wings. Males are polygamous, and they form territories that may have as many as 5 hens within.

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

They are relatively weak fliers and will escape on foot if possible; at night, these birds roost in trees. They are capable of achieving speeds of 50 miles per hour (80 kilometers per hour) in flight.

Only the males "gobble"; the females cluck. The males also emit a low-pitched thumping sound. This bird was Benjamin Franklin's preference as the national bird for the United States. It has been adopted as the official game bird of South Carolina, Alabama, Oklahoma and Massachusetts.

It is the traditional main dish for the Thanksgiving holiday, which is held in November in the United States and October in Canada, but of course it is now normally replaced by the domesticated turkey. The Aztecs domesticated the southern Mexican form, M. g. gallopavo, one of the six subspecies.

Part of USA
The range and numbers of this bird had decreased at the beginning of the 20th century due to hunting and loss of habitat, and game officials made efforts to protect and encourage the breeding of the surviving wild population. As the wild turkey's numbers rebounded in the 1980s and 1990s, hunting was legalized in most states.

Wild Turkey 

Scientific classification

         Kingdom:  Animalia
         Phylum:   Chordata
         Class:   Aves
         Order:  Galliformes
         Family:   Meleagrididae  
         Genus:   Meleagris
         Species:   M. gallopavo

Binomial name
Meleagris gallopavo