Wild Turkey

Meleagris gallopavo

Phasianidae

Wild Turkey by Courtney Celley/USFWS, Midwest Region is available through Public Domain. — Started out basic and simple

Wild turkey eastern US by Dimus is available through Public Domain. — Adds a chest beard, more color to the head

Wild Turkey by Kimberly Emerson /USFWS, Midwest Tegion is available through Public Domain. — Growing the snood, caruncle and wattle

Wild Turkey by Joan DiSanto — Show time!

Female Wild Turkey by CheapShot is licensed under CC BY 2.0. — Female with only small gray feathers on its head and neck

Female Wild Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) taken near Rideau River, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada by D. Gordon E. Robertson is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. — ... female plumage is dull

Wild Turkey scat from male and female by Great Plains Nature Center; permission required for use. — J-shaped dropping from males; spiral droppings from females

Wild Turkey at Horseshoe Lake, 3/6/16 by Andy Reago and Chrissie McClarren is licensed under CC BY 2.0. — Surprisingly a good flyer despite its apparent bulk

Turkeys displaying in Pawtuxet Memorial Park by Carolyn Hardie — Mating displays usually in a group

Male and female Wild Turkey by Courtney Celley/USFWS, Midwest Region is available through Public Domain. — Gobbler will mate with more than one hen if possible

Wild turkey eggs from Ontario by Groomsc is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. — Clutch may include 4-17 eggs!

Turkey egg remnant found at Salter Grove in tangle of Japanese honeysuckle vines by M. Wong — Remnant of wild turkey egg at Salter Grove

Recently hatched poult by Jason Major — At hatching, poult all dressed and ready to go!

Wild Turkey with Chicks by Alvin Freund/USFWS Northeast Region is available through Public Domain. — Female guides recently hatched poults

Wild turkey hen with poults by Luca Pfeiffer/ Shenadoah National Park is available through Public Domain. — Protected by hen, poults feed independently

Meleagris gallopavo - November 2024 - Sarah Stierch by Missvain — Hens and maturing poults form wandering flocks

Wild Turkeys at Norway Maple grove entry to Pond Clearing by Peter Becker — Small flock at vernal pond clearing at Salter Grove

Wild Turkeys at Governor Francis Farms by Jason Major. — Out and about In suburbia

Wild Turkey which lives near the Providence Athenaeum by Kenneth C. Zirkel is licensed under CC by-SA 4.0 — Spending time in Providence

The Wild Turkey has only been seen or heard a handful of times since records began for Salter Grove in 2002. In November, 2020, a fragment of a turkey egg shell was found while a dense patch of Japanese Honeysuckle was cleared from South Lawn. Five non-breeding birds was once seen foraging in the northern portion of the pond clearing in March, 2021. The most recent sighting was dated mid-July of 2025.

The low abundance at Salter Grove is to be expected since the small and sparse woodland of the park contains only a small number of acorn-producing black oaks.

Throughout its range, the preferred habitat of this wide-spread and delicious game species is oak-hickory or oak forest where its favorite food of acorns and hickory nuts would be abundant. However, the park does offer other acceptable food items such as berries, leaf buds, seeds, and insects.

It is not obvious where the Wild Turkeys sighted at the park are coming from since there is suburban housing on three sides and the Providence River on the fourth. Males displaying to females in the spring, and small foraging flocks during autumn have been reported at Pawtuxet Memorial Park less than a mile away, but they do not appear to be residents of the cemetery. Wild Turkeys have seasonally varying home ranges of from 400 to 2,000 acres so the origin of birds sighted at Salter Grove will remain a mystery.

Although it was abundant in North America during colonial times, over-hunting and conversion of forests to agricultural lands over two centuries led to a great decline. By the early 1900's wild birds were found only in remote or inaccessible pockets of forest.

The alarmingly low national estimate of only 30,000 birds triggered restoration programs. Since the 1940's, turkeys from stable populations were trapped and then relocated to suitable habitats across the United States, and Canada. Estimates for the mid 2020's suggest a population rebound to over 6.5 million. Success!

Wild Turkeys were historically common all over New England but were extirpated by the late 1800's. Its restoration in Rhode Island started in 1980 with the relocation of wild birds from New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont to suitable habitats around the state. Wild Turkeys now occur beyond the points of introduction, spilling into the suburban landscape. Numbers appear sufficiently robust to provide hunting opportunities in both spring and fall.

For more information:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Wild_Turkey/
https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/wild-turkey
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_turkey
https://www.birdsbybent.com/////ch61-70/wturkey.html
https://dec.ny.gov/nature/animals-fish-plants/wild-turkey/habitat-management#:~:text=A
https://dem.ri.gov/sites/g/files/xkgbur861/files/2024-12/turkey-survey-24.pdf
Clarkson, C. E., Osenkowski, J. E., Steen, V. A., Duhaime, R. J., and Paton, W.C. (2023) The Second Atlas of Breeding Birds in Rhode Island. Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management Division of Fish and Wildlife. pp. 80-81.
Howe, Jr., R.H. and Sturtevant, E. (1899) The Birds of Rhode Island. p. 88.