Or at least most of his stuff. A small part of him was hidden.
1/6400, f/5.6, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
When it comes to iridescence the light angle makes all the difference..
Yesterday morning near the base of an isolated Utah mountain range this tom turkey was displaying for the rest of the flock. Much of the time he was either behind a barbed wire fence, mixed in with other turkeys or turned at an angle to the light that didn’t light up his iridescence. But for this shot he had moved further up the mountainside so the fence wasn’t in the way and the only evidence of other turkeys we see are some of the shadows at the right edge of the frame.
But most importantly he had turned at an angle to the early morning sun to really light up his spectacular iridescence. I can think of few if any other birds with more iridescent surface area than a Wild Turkey tom in springtime. His colorful if dubiously attractive naked head, wattles and snood (fleshy flap hanging from his beak) only add to the effect. His beard is less colorful and obvious but it’s there. I wish his legs, feet and wingtips weren’t blocked by the rabbitbrush at the bottom of the frame but for me that’s far from an image-killer.
My camera settings weren’t ideal for the situation but sometimes circumstances are largely forgiving of mistakes and I think this was one of them.
Ron
Just for the record: I made no color or contrast adjustments with this image. All I did during processing was crop, sharpen, make a moderate exposure tweak and add my copyright watermark. This is very, very close to what he really looked like.
Wonderful Tom picture!
Lucky, lucky you. That is a sight I will not see for myself, but I am very happy to marvel at your capture.
Maybe not, EC but you have the opportunity to see sights that I’ll never see so it all works out in the end. 🙂
I agree!
That is one of the nicest pictures of a turkey I have ever seen! Kudos!!
Good to know, Joanne. I kinda like it too.
Layer upon layer of colorful and iridescent feathers — Wild Turkeys are a pretty impressive bunch, none more so than this guy. What a great capture, even with a bit of rabbitbrush in the way!
I confess, though, that I’m unclear about those white “things” that appear to be dangling on his chest (and spotted with orange). I did see that he has a “beard” further down his chest. Lots of *accoutrement* for attracting a mate, I guess.
Chris, I think those white things are just more of the naked skin on and near his head and neck.
Gorgeous!!! The lighting on Mr. Tom is perfect to my eye, captured his iridescence and handsome colorful head beautifully!
Thank you, Kathleen.
In our current neighborhood, we seldom see them, although they do occasionally come by. Where we lived a year ago in the south hills it was more wooded (Douglas-fir and Oregon Oak). We had many every day, usually15-20. One morning I counted over 70 birds prancing through our yard and into the woods across the street. They would roost nightly in the tall trees above the house and all too often we would hear them land hard on the roof and eventually did some damage as a result. They were Wild Turkeys but totally unafraid. I could stand in the yard and the flock would simply walk around me within inches of my legs. Many times traffic came to a halt as a large group of turkeys crossed the road or sometimes, stopped and displayed in the middle of the road. They do have beautiful feathers but much of their appeal becomes lost when they damage your roof and tear up flowerbeds. And it’s several times per day that this flock wandered through our yard and neighborhood. I did appreciate how well they kept the feral cats out of our yard. More than once I watched several toms give chase to a cat running as fast as it could to get away.
Dan, it sounds like your turkeys act very differently than most of ours. Perhaps they aren’t hunted in your area?
Gotta love any bird that harmlessly chases a feral cat or a loose cat that should be in its owner’s house.
Oooh, good capture! They really are stunning. I hadn’t noticed the shimmering bronze until Arwen mentioned it. Great photo — thanks!
Thank you, Kathryn.
Truly ‘Strutting His Stuff!’
🙂
What a crazy beautiful bird. So many colors and feathers going in all different directions. I think his appearance must stun and overwhelm the females into submission. Just a wonderful image.
Thanks very much, Lyle. I’ve found them to be difficult subjects for a variety of reasons so I was very happy to get this particular photo.
Wow ! Every extreme and admiring adjective applies to your capture
of this handsome guy —and for me, that aqua blue face just sets off all the
warm iridescence to perfection !
I’m glad you like it, Kris. Thanks.
Beautiful! They are a bird of contrasts from appearing sluggish (they are not) to drab (not in this light) tho their heads aren’t the “prettiest” – does look good in this case.. 😉 Glad you were able to capture the iridescences . 🙂
Judy, folks seem to either love or strongly dislike their colorful naked heads. I’m in the former category, if for no other reason than it’s uniqueness.
I am struck by that shimmering bronze on his wing. Gorgeous bird.
He sure is. Thanks, Arwen.
Spectacular is not an exaggeration in describing Mr. Tom. Not sure if it is their breeding season, but if so he will be attracting some females for sure. Do you know if wild turkeys bring forth a breeding plumage different than their normal such as many of our feathered friends do?
Everett, I’ve never heard any of their plumages referred to as breeding plumage but they do seem to have more iridescence at certain times of the year. Maybe that’s because they do more displaying during the breeding season. I dunno…
He is quite the looker! What a beaut! If I were a lady turkey…😏
“If I were a lady turkey…”
Now there’s a bit of a pregnant omission in that partial sentence, Marty. Thankfully we have context. 🙂
Ron,
You mention “My camera settings weren’t ideal for the situation”, I’m curious as to what settings you would have preferred.
Thank you.
Douglas, I certainly didn’t need a shutter speed of 1/6400 for a displaying turkey! That’s more like ‘hummingbird in flight’ shutter speed.
I wish I’d have been at something like f/7.1 and ISO 250. That would have slowed my SS significantly but I’d have had slightly improved image quality with less noise and more detail and a little more depth of field for such a large bird.
That is one beautiful bird and your picture is fabulous!
Thank you made my morning 👍🏻
Good. Thanks very much, Theresa.
What a handsome Tom! He is truly strutting his stuff. And you caught the light on his feathers at just the right moment and angle, Ron. I love the iridescent qualities of turkey feathers. Thank you for all your sacrifice, time and effort to bring the beauty of Utah into my NC home.
Thank you for the kind comment, Melanie.