Just back from my farm property and I saw a first for me. A flock of turkeys fed by me and mixed in was a white gobbler. He was a young bird, not a jake, and had a 6 to 8 inch beard. At first I thought it was a domestic mix, but after some research found
out that is not the case. He was not a albino. From my reading it seems most of the white birds are hens so he is a fairly rare bird. Sorry for the quality of the picture, but I had to shoot through a closed window.Interesting, I have never seen a white turkey in the wild. When I first read the title, my initial thought was an escaped turkey joined a wild flock, but seems not to be the case. And from what I see, it looks white, but clearly not white like a domestic turkey. Thanks for sharing.
It was a first for me and I spend a lot of time in the woods. About 5 years back some of my relatives reported seeing a wild white hen, but I never saw her. With all the predators I’m surprised a white bird makes it to adult. Like you my first thought was a domestic bird mixed in, but the markings were clearly a wild bird so that’s when I turned to the research. I sure hope I see him again and can get a better quality photo.
That’s really awesome. I’ve never seen it either.
today is the last day of our deer season and turkey does not open until 3/20. This will give me some time to move around the area without disrupting things too much. I should be able to get a better handle on where these turkeys are ranging. I don’t want to shoot the bird because I’m not much for mounting animals and this bird if killed should be mounted.
Yep, agreed, it sounds like a wall hanger.
Can you get back there with a big lens and get some good zoomed photos.
That could prove fun and challenging.
It’s on my property and the land around it belongs to relatives so I’m good to go. I need to be careful though and not chase the flock off the property. I also don’t want to do any calling and have them ‘learn’ my sound and ignore me come turkey season. I really hope to call him in for a younger relative to take or get him to come in with the boss gobbler that was with this flock. I really do want some good pictures though.
Yep, it’d be fun stalking and photoing, but rethinking it, in the end get yourself a good Reconyx game cam.