White Wild Turkey? Eastern Ontario, Canada (1 Viewer)

[Gordon W]

I saw this pair of wild turkeys over the weekend, one of them being white, which I've never seen before. Is that turkey a truly wild species or is it a cross between wild and domestic?

And am I correct to assume at least the dark one was an Eastern Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris)?

 

[cavan wood]

Morphologically, it appears identical to the normal one, but I have no knowledge on the subject. Very cool though.

Scott

 

[ceasar]

Looks leucistic. But the tail pattern is unusual. Don't you think?

http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/wildlife/facts/birds/turkey/turkey_faqs.htm

Above link has more facts on Wild Turkeys than most people want to know.

Bob

 

[Hamhed]

Hi, Gordon and all - This year is the first that we've had a flock of 10 Wild Turkeys on our property in western North Carolina and the flock also contains a light colored Turkey. They're not too shy but I haven't been able to get a picture of the one in question.
Ceasar, I don't see anything on that link about white turkeys. I'm assuming it is a leucistic coloration or variation. Google has about 25,000 hits on the subject; it doesn't sound terribly uncommon. Still, it's the only one I've ever seen.
At one time, we had a blue bullfrog in our pond. Maybe it's time to check our drinking water!:eek!:

 

[stonechat1]

IMHO it´s not a white turkey, it is called "narragansett - colored", couldn´t find any pic on the web but will post a photo from my poultry standard, as soon as possible (must go to work now).

 

[Gordon W]

Thanks all for the information. Very interesting.

 

[MichavdB]

Leaning leucistic over Naragansett myself.

 

[Bob.M]

I don't see any reference to White Wild Turkeys in my Sibley book, but we took this picture of an ordinary Wild Turkey just a couple of days ago. My wife counted 48 of them in our yard. They crossed the road in 2 groups, each time requiring a truck to stop.

 

[ceasar]

They are all over the place here in the Poconos of PA. Back in June I saw many females with broods of chicks following them. A couple of times I was in a line of cars that were backed up while drivers in the front of the line watched them cross the road. Every now and then you will see the carcass of one of them that had been hit by a car along the side of a rural road. The woods are full of food for them now. A few years ago we had one for Thanksgiving dinner. My brother in law's nephew (on his side of the family) shot it.

I never saw a wild white one though. When I was a kid we raised white domestic turkeys.

Bob

 

[ceasar]

Leaning leucistic over Naragansett myself.

You know, the tail pattern on Gordon's turkey looks a lot like the tail pattern on the Narragansett.

Bob