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Meleagris gallopavo
This is the second wild turkey I have have to rescue in the last two weeks. This one was smaller than the last. The turkey was stranded from its mom and near the road. I carried it to a safe bushy area and left a pile of bird seed. I added earlier images of small turkeys from the spring. light is different, thus color is different.
Hi Ashley.
Cornell University (Vt-atlas-of LIfe): Kyle Jones "It's a little hard to tell with these young birds, but I'm thinking they might be pheasants. Certainly not ruffed grouse, they don't have the telltale dark band on the end of the tail."
Me: "I have seen lots of turkey and Ruffed Grouse. I have not seen may pheasants around here. Yikes! This bird was too large for a young grouse. Also grouse tend to fly into the trees to hide. It had long gangly legs."
I posted a Ruffed Grouse awhile back and you can see the legs and wings are shorter than the turkey wings.
Usually grouse have little tufts on their head. Hummm gotta think about this. Turkey or Grouse. I really think it was a turkey.