The OTHER turkey

November 26, 2015 • 1:00 pm

The title above comes from reader/biologist/photographer/artist Lou Jost in Ecuador, for he reminds me that there’s another turkey besides the American turkey. His note:

There is one other turkey species, the little-known Central American endemic Ocellated Turkey (Meleagris ocellata). This lives in rainforests of the Yucatan peninsula in extreme southern Mexico and adjacent parts of Belize and Guatemala. It’s a very fancy bird! My pic was of a wild bird walking across the lawn in front of the field station in the Rio Bravo conservation reserve of Belize. It doesn’t do the bird justice; the internet has great pictures of them.  Unfortunately Google also turns up astonishing numbers of dead ones shot by gringo hunters of this near-threatened species, as in this picture.

I won’t show that one, but here’s Lou’s shot of this beautiful bird:

OcellatedTurkey (2)

I’ll add a video from Belize of these birds:

22 thoughts on “The OTHER turkey”

  1. What a beautiful bird!
    Our turkey is just out of the oven. It is beautiful too, in its own way.

  4. Times like these I’d like to take a rifle and go hunting an over breeding species. Hunters.
    Don’t see them breeding this turkey, just wiping them out. So much for hunters being friendly to nature.

    Such a beautiful colorful bird! Jeers to hunters and those letting them hunt those birds into extinction. Foul.

  5. Sorry for the anger. Humanity really needs a predator that only hunts us. Why we see so many in the movies from Aliens to Predators to Vampires and Werewolves and masked unkillable killers. Seems we want one now that we are the Apex Predator. These says I call it Omega Predators who kill and change too much and that it is unsustainable in the long run. That run is nearing its end. Next stop population crash and mass die off. Nature’s way of culling a species that does too well.

  7. Should one visit the ruins of Tikal in Guatemala, these beautiful birds are strolling all around the entrance gate area and the adjacent hotel grounds. It’s a very birdy area!

  8. Hi Jerry,

    See attached photos of wild turkeys in Rocky Mountain National Park.

    Happy turkey day!

    Jim Stunkel

    >

  9. Looks yummy! Mmmmm! Tuuuurkeeey! 🙂 Seriously, though.. hunting threatened species should definitely be given severe enough penalties to make it unattractive to even a Koch Bro.

  14. What a great Mating Display although seemingly ignored by the Females , has to be 10/10 for effort.lol

  15. I ran across this fascinating and well-researched exploration of how we came to call this bird a turkey and thought I’d share it.

    In summary, the turkey acquired its name through a confusion with the guinea fowl. Guinea fowl were re-introduced into Europe from Ethiopia through Mamluk Egypt, and one of their names was “turkey cock” or “poule d’Inde” in various languages as a result. Turkeys arrived slightly later, and were confused with guinea fowl because of their physical similarity, because they were brought to Europe on the same Portuguese ships, because of the Portuguese traders branding everything as an Indian or “Calicut” product, and perhaps because of Portuguese paranoia about keeping secret the details of their overseas discoveries.

    http://languageoffood.blogspot.com/2010/11/turkey.html

  16. Maybe it’s just the picture, but it looks like it’s wearing knickers, pulled down over skinny legs.

    Ok, my profound comment quota is met for the day.

Comments are closed.