It’s the Lord’s day, but also John Avise‘s day, for on Sunday we get a themed collections of bird photos from John. His narrative and captions are below, and you can click on the photos to enlarge them.
Don’t forget to send in your photos—we’re running low! Thanks.
Turkey Day:
I hope all WEIT readers are having a very happy Thanksgiving weekend. In slightly belated honor of Turkey Day, today’s theme is native birds with the word “turkey” in the common name. In North America, there are two such species: the Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), from which domestic turkeys are descended; and the unrelated Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura). The Turkey Vulture probably got its name from its featherless head, like that of a Wild Turkey gobbler. Wild Turkeys can be found across most of the United States and Mexico, whereas Turkey Vultures range throughout the Americas. I won’t include photos of domestic turkeys, because most of you already know what they look and taste like.
Wild Turkey hen:
Wild Turkey adult male (gobbler or tom):
Wild Turkey young male:
Wild Turkey adults with juvenile (chick or poult):
Wild Turkey adult with 8 poults:
Turkey Vulture body portrait:
Turkey Vulture head portrait:
Turkey Vulture perched:
Another Turkey Vulture perched:
Turkey Vulture sunbathing:
Turkey Vulture flight profile:
Turkey Vulture soaring:
There is another turkey in North America, a very beautiful creature, which was treated here in WEIT:
https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2015/11/26/the-other-turkey/
What a gorgeous bird!
I just read about wild turkeys in America and they’re said to be the tastiest of wild game.
Thanks as always for these great themed sets.
Wonderful! Especially that last photos of the soaring turkey vulture.
Thanks!
We have a lot of Turkey vultures in the NW that migrate here during the Summer- their immense wingspan always gets my attention. That headshot is nice, but not a very pretty bird! I’ve never seen a wild turkey except in photos. Maybe one day. Thanks for another batch of great themed photos.
Turkey Vultures are great birds! Thanks for these!
We have a great tree for turkey vultures near our yard, tall, with bare limbs at the top for them to sit on. We often see them sunbathing before setting out for the day’s work. We had an injured one that hopped around in our area for many months before finally disappearing. It was a real survivor. I left scraps of meat for it when I saw it nearby, and it gobbled them with alacrity after I left. Finally, it was able to make it up to the low branches of trees, and a few months after that it was gone.