{"id":83592,"date":"2020-04-03T05:32:35","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T11:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=83592"},"modified":"2020-04-03T05:46:02","modified_gmt":"2020-04-03T11:46:02","slug":"a-tom-turkey-really-struttin-his-stuff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2020\/04\/03\/a-tom-turkey-really-struttin-his-stuff\/","title":{"rendered":"A Tom Turkey Really Struttin’ His Stuff"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was so enamored by the smoke morph hen Wild Turkey<\/span><\/span><\/a> I photographed in the west desert mountains two days ago I went back yesterday to see if I could find the same turkeys again. I found them and her but it was a different turkey in the same flock that turned out to be the star of the show.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>1\/1600, f\/7.1, 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<\/em><\/p>\n

There were at least two adult toms in the flock but this dandy was obviously the cock of the walk. He appeared to be the larger of the two gobblers and he was definitely the most dominant. Once again most of the flock stayed buried in the junipers but this guy came out onto the dirt road and displayed for over ten minutes in warm morning light.<\/p>\n

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1\/2000, f\/7.1, 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<\/em><\/p>\n

When he was really into his performance he would pull his head back into his plumage and drop his wings even further. When that happened his wing primaries would be quivering.<\/p>\n

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1\/2500, f\/7.1, 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<\/em><\/p>\n

A side view showing off his beard.<\/p>\n

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1\/2500, f\/7.1, 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<\/em><\/p>\n

A head-on view.<\/p>\n

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1\/2000, f\/7.1, 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<\/em><\/p>\n

In this highly cropped photo we get a more detailed look at his naked and rather unique head and neck. That fleshy protuberance hanging down over his bill is called a snood. The snood can vary dramatically in size, shape and color and can be an indicator of a turkey’s gender, mood and behavior.<\/p>\n

There’s much more about turkey snoods here<\/span><\/span><\/a> if you have the interest.<\/p>\n

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1\/2500, f\/7.1, 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<\/em><\/p>\n

So one of the functions of his snood is to contribute to his dominance and sex appeal but in this shot I caught it looking pretty silly. He had flipped his head slightly and that sent his snood flying in a vertical direction, detracting significantly from his sex appeal I would\u00a0 think…<\/p>\n

Competing males tend to defer to males with the longest snoods and females prefer to mate with long-snooded males.<\/p>\n

So contrary to semi-popular belief, size matters. At least in Wild Turkeys.<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n

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Notes: <\/em><\/p>\n