Wild Turkey

A magnificent primary feather from North America's largest game bird. The Wild Turkey is a heavy-bodied bird with long legs, a fan-shaped tail, and bare skin on the head. These feathers are built for short, powerful bursts of flight used to escape predators or reach nightly roosts in high branches.

Distinctive bold horizontal barring of dark chocolate brown to black and creamy white/buff; the dark bands are broader than the light bands

Densely pennaceous and tightly interlocked for flight efficiency; the base shows some plumulaceous (downy) barbs for insulation

Very stiff and durable; the surface is matte to slightly glossy with a smooth, aerodynamic feel on the upper surface

Bold, high-contrast white-and-brown barring and the significant size and stiffness characteristic of a large gallinaceous bird

Open woodlands, hardwood forests with scattered clearings, and agricultural fields; they prefer areas with large trees for roosting

Common throughout North America, ranging from southern Canada through the United States to central Mexico

Omnivorous foragers that act as seed dispersers and provide a significant food source for large predators like coyotes and bobcats

Other large Galliformes like the Ring-necked Pheasant have similar barring but are much smaller; large owls have similar colors but possess a soft, velvet-like 'mufflers' on the feather surface

Wild Turkeys were nearly hunted to extinction by the early 1900s but have staged one of the most successful wildlife recovery stories in history. Benjamin Franklin famously praised the turkey as a 'Bird of Courage'

Good condition with minor ruffling of the trailing edge barbs; likely a naturally molted feather from the summer post-breeding molt