Wild Turkey

Description:

The turkey seen behind bars was found by my Aunt in my grandmother's town in rural/suburban Indiana. The other wild turkey was found at Radnor Lake in Nashville, TN. Both birds appear to be female as neither have wattles which are small, fleshy excrescences that are characteristic of males. The small town turkey and the state park turkey both had long yellowish-red legs and heavily feathered bodies that were colored dark to light brown with a coppery sheen in the sun.

Habitat:

The turkey behind bars lives among two cemeteries, having to cross a busy road to meet all of her need. After a week or so of becoming a local icon for blocking traffic, she was hit and killed. Due to the primary biophysical processes of loss vegetation and infrastructure construction, she lost her natural habitat and was forced to adapt her behaviors to altered light and noise regimes. The other turkey at Radnor Lake was not untouched by man. I found this turkey walking on a concrete path. While not as drastic as the small town turkey, this bird was too affected by the loss of vegetation and construction that caused a form of habitat fragmentation. Although, the turkey at Radnor Lake still had a large area of land to traverse and was likely more affected by the people walking through her habitat than the concrete road itself.

Notes:

Fun fact from my Urban Nature class: Wild turkeys love to roll around in dirt & ant hills! Learn more about the small town turkey icon here: https://www.wthr.com/article/traffic-blo...