What is a Male Turkey? A Guide to Male Turkey Terminology. Appearance and Behavior
For many of us, the turkey we eat at Thanksgiving dinner comes neatly packaged from the grocery store. But in the wild, male turkeys, called gobblers, are impressive birds with distinct characteristics. Read on to learn all about male turkey terminology, appearance, mating behaviors and more.
Male Turkey Names
Male turkeys go by several different names depending on their age:
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Gobbler – A male turkey that is over 1 year old. This is the most common term used for an adult male.
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Jake – A male turkey less than 1 year old similar to a juvenile.
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Tom – Another name used for a male turkey of any age.
Physical Characteristics
An adult gobbler has distinct physical traits that set it apart from female turkeys, called hens:
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Size – Gobblers are much larger than hens, averaging 16 to 24 pounds compared to 8 to 10 pounds for hens.
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Plumage – Gobblers have metallic, iridescent feathers in shades of bronze, copper and green. They have white and black barring on their primary wing feathers.
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Head – Gobblers have a bald head that can be red, white or blue in color. Their heads turn brighter red during the breeding season.
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Wattles – The fleshy growths that hang from the neck are called wattles. They elongate during mating season.
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Beard – Gobblers sport a hair-like tuft of modified feathers called a beard protruding from their chest. This can grow over 9 inches long.
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Spurs – Sharp, bony spikes grow from the legs of mature gobblers. They use these for fighting and display.
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Tail Feathers – Gobblers have long, fanned tail feathers they use in courtship displays. The tips are usually chestnut brown.
Mating Displays and Calls
In breeding season, gobblers put on elaborate displays to attract hens:
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Strutting – Gobblers strut by puffing out feathers, fanning their tail and dragging their wings. They slowly circle hens while emitting deep, throaty calls.
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Drumming – Gobblers rapidly beat their wings against their body to produce a vibrating drum sound. The wingtips touch the ground on either side.
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Fanning – To fanning, a gobbler turns sideways, fully fans his tail and erects his body feathers. This makes him appear larger.
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Gobbling – Gobblers vocalize with a distinct gobble sound. It’s a resonant, drawn out “goollllp gooolllp” used to attract mates and warn competing males.
Habitat and Diet
Gobblers are found throughout North America in forests, fields and thickets. They prefer habitats with a mix of brushy openings for feeding and mature woods for roosting in trees at night.
Gobblers spend most of their time foraging on the ground for food. They eat a diverse omnivorous diet including:
- Acorns, nuts and seeds
- Insects
- Berries and vegetation
- Small reptiles and amphibians
Hunting and Conservation
Wild turkeys nearly went extinct in the early 20th century due to overhunting and habitat loss. Conservation efforts brought back populations through restocking programs. Today, gobblers are hunted in the spring during regulated hunting seasons. Their unique mating behaviors make them a prized game bird.
The male wild turkey has distinct features and displays that differentiate him from the female hen. An adult male is called a gobbler, while a juvenile male is called a jake. Gobblers are larger, have iridescent plumage, a bare head, prominent wattles and a beard. During breeding season, gobblers perform elaborate courtship displays and vocalizations to attract mates. They are an iconic North American game bird.
Turkey Basics-Gobblers and Hens
Let’s begin with the basics of distinguishing male wild turkeys (gobblers) from females (hens).
Gobblers are larger-bodied birds, with a darker coloration, at times appearing almost black. In bright sunlight, their feathers cast a brilliant bronze or metallic iridescence. Gobblers have a featherless, red head (sometimes with blue and white coloring, too) with prominent wattle and fleshy, red growths (called caruncles) on their neck. They also have a “beard”—a tuft of black, hair-like strands—protruding from their chest.
On adult gobblers (called toms), the beard can be 7-9 inches or more in length, but on young gobblers (called jakes) the beard is <6 inches long. Typically, gobblers hang out away from hens during the summer since they take no part in raising young.
Hens are more brown in coloration and smaller in size than gobblers. They have a head that is more blue-gray in appearance, often with feathers continuing up the back of the head.
Occasionally hens will have a beard, but it is thinner than on gobblers and is quite often kinked. Hens can also have some feather iridescence, but not to the same extent as gobblers.
How many gobblers and hens do you see in this picture?
2 gobblers (both jakes, note the larger size, less-feathered red heads, and tiny stubble of a beard protruding from the chest of the jake on the right), 4 hens (one mostly hidden behind a jake, but you still can clearly see the typical head of a hen turkey poking out), 1 unknown. If we were here in person live, the birds would move about and we could probably determine that the unknown is another jake, but given what we can see in this photo, it’s best to just call this partially obstructed bird an unknown.
Poults develop very quickly (they must in order not to be eaten!) and feather types, appearance, and body size change rapidly as they age. Based on these characteristics, we can estimate the age of poults. For simplicity, we divide poults into three age classes.
1 week old or younger. Poults that are no more than about a week old are still covered with downy feathers and are very small (<5-6 inches tall). They look like little puff balls about the size of your fist.
Turkey Poult Class 1
2-5 weeks old. Poults in this class have grown longer wing feathers, but still are mostly covered with downy feathers on their body and still lack long tail feathers. They are about 6-10 inches tall, similar in size to a Blue Jay. In appearance, they look to be all wings (which is good because it means now they can fly into low trees to escape ground predators). Poults on the older end of this age class will have started to grow some juvenile plumage on their bodies, but still have short tail feathers.
Hen with class 2 age group poults
Hen with older class 2 age-group poult (borderline class 3)
Hen with class 2 age group poults
6-8 weeks or older. Poults early in this stage still have some down feathers occurring on the neck and head, but their body is covered with juvenile type contour feathers. They have visible tail feathers now, black-and-white barred wing feathers are emerging, and they stand about 10-12 inches tall, similar in size to a crow or a chicken. By about 8 weeks of age, poults are beginning to grow new “adult” looking body feathers and will have a mixture of juvenile feathers and adult feathers on their body. They are about half the size of the hen and will continue to grow to almost the same size as the hen by the end of the summer. Turkey Poults
Because they are very similar in size, late in the summer it can be very challenging to determine if a group of similar-sized turkeys is a flock of hens without poults or a hen and her older-age-class brood. If you’re unsure, it’s best to mark them as unknowns.
Turkey trio battle for a mate | The Mating Game – BBC
FAQ
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