Wild Turkey Facts

40 Wild Turkey Facts to Know: A look at some of the important facts surrounding wild turkeys.

There is a lot of facts about wild turkeys. Some are commonly realized. Others are little-known information. Follow along as we check out some of these great nuggets of knowledge.

• The wild turkey’s scientific name is Meleagris gallopavo.
• North America has five wild turkey subspecies, including the eastern (eastern U.S.), Gould’s (southwestern U.S.), Merriam’s (western U.S.), Osceola (Florida), and Rio Grande (midwestern and western U.S.).
• Another subspecies—the ocellated turkey—lives in Central America.
• Turkeys can thrive in a variety of habitats.
• Wild turkeys almost became extinct, with numbers below 200,000.
• Turkey populations were restored in the 1900s.
• Today, there are 6-7 million turkeys in North America.
• Turkeys can run up to 20 mph.
• Turkeys can fly up to 50 mph.
• Common turkey vocalizations are the cluck, cutt, gobble, purr, yelp, and much more.
• Hens lay up to 10-15 eggs.
• Hens incubate the eggs for 28 days.
• Poults primarily feed on insects.
• Male turkeys have colorful, red, white, and blue heads.
• Hens have less colorful grey, pink, and light blue heads.
• Most adult male turkeys weigh 18-25 pounds.
• Most adult female turkeys weigh 8-15 pounds.
• Adult male turkeys are black and bronze.
• Adult female turkeys are brown.
• Male turkeys have three toes, but the middle is the longest.
• Female turkeys have three toes all the same length.
• Jakes are young male birds.
• Jennies are young female birds.
• Adult turkeys eat insects, vegetation, grains, nuts, seeds, and more.
• Adult turkeys have an average of 5,500 feathers.
• Turkey beards are actually just tufts of filament.
• Jakes have longer middle tail fan feathers.
• While rare, some hens strut, and even gobble.
• Jakes tend to have beards that are 6 inches or less.
• Adult male birds generally have 7-12-inch beards.
• Up to 10% of hens have beards, although these are usually quite small.
• It is possible for turkeys to have multiple beards.
• Jakes tend to have only nubs for spurs.
• Adult male birds tend to have ¾-inch to 2-inch spurs.
• Hens do not have spurs, but oddities do occur.
• You can identify a turkeys gender by its droppings. Male dropping are J-shaped. Female droppings are spiral-shaped.
• Wild turkey courtship occurs in spring.
• In nature, hens go to the gobbling toms.
• Hunters try to reverse nature by calling gobblers to them (mimicking the hen).
• While fall hunting was once most popular, most modern turkey hunting takes place in spring.