The wild turkey is an upland game bird native to North America, one of two extant species of turkey and the heaviest member of the order Galliformes. It is the ancestor to the domestic turkey, which was originally derived from a southern Mexican subspecies of wild turkey.
Region
North America
Typical Environment
Wild turkeys inhabit a mosaic of mature and mixed forests interspersed with openings, fields, and shrublands. They favor oak-hickory and mixed hardwood forests for acorns and mast, but also use pine, riparian woodlands, and juniper-pinyon in the West. Edge habitats are important for feeding and brood-rearing, and they readily forage in agricultural lands. They roost in tall trees at night and require nearby cover for nesting and predator avoidance.
Altitude Range
Sea level to 3300 m
Climate Zone
Temperate
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 2/5
The wild turkey is an upland game bird native to North America and the heaviest member of the order Galliformes. It is the ancestor of the domestic turkey, derived from a southern Mexican subspecies. After severe declines in the early 20th century, wild turkeys rebounded dramatically thanks to science-based restoration and habitat conservation.
Close-up of head features
Closeup of wild turkey tom
Eastern subspecies
Wild turkey agile in flight
Wild turkey, fast flier
Hen with poults
Wild turkeys foraging in the Appalachian Foothills of Pennsylvania
Nest found in Nelson County, Virginia
Nest in Ontario
Hen with juveniles
A hen caught in the open hides her young poults beneath her wings and body.
A Bird of the Deciduous Forest, Wild Turkey, Georgia diorama at the Milwaukee Public Museum
Eastern wild turkey
Rio Grande wild turkey has relatively long legs
Gould's wild turkey
Female wild turkey with young, from Birds of America by John James Audubon
![Smoke-morph wild turkey (right), a relatively rare color morph almost exclusively manifested in females.[65]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6a/20251015_smoke_morph_wild_turkey_near_matthei_botanical_garden_PD204621.jpg/1280px-20251015_smoke_morph_wild_turkey_near_matthei_botanical_garden_PD204621.jpg)
Smoke-morph wild turkey (right), a relatively rare color morph almost exclusively manifested in females.[65]
Eastern wild turkey (M. g. silvestris) hens
Temperament
wary and alert
Flight Pattern
short rapid wingbeats with powerful, brief flights and glides
Social Behavior
Outside the breeding season, wild turkeys form flocks often segregated by sex and age. In spring, males display by strutting and gobbling to attract multiple females, and dominance hierarchies are pronounced. Nests are shallow ground scrapes concealed in vegetation, and hens rear broods alone while roosting with poults in trees once they can fly.
Migratory Pattern
Resident
Song Description
Males produce loud, carrying gobbles used for mate attraction and territory advertisement. Both sexes give clucks, yelps, purrs, and putts, with soft contact calls in flocks and sharp alarm notes when disturbed.
