Wild Turkey

This is a primary flight feather from the Wild Turkey, North America's largest game bird. Adult turkeys are massive, ground-dwelling birds with iridescent bronze-green plumage, bare colorful heads, and fan-shaped tails. Their feathers are engineered for durability and sudden, explosive flight.

Dark chocolate brown to charcoal black base with distinct, crisp white-to-buff horizontal bars or 'tiger stripes'. The rachis is light-colored, ivory to pale grey.

Densely packed and pennaceous for most of the length to provide lift; barbules are tightly interlocked. The base shows some plumulaceous (downy) barbs for insulation.

Very stiff, coarse, and durable. The surface has a slight matte to semi-gloss finish and feels somewhat oily/water-repellent.

Bold white-and-dark horizontal banding, extreme asymmetry of the vanes, and a thick, pale, ivory-colored rachis.

Open woodlands, hardwood forests with scattered clearings, oak-hickory forests, and occasionally agricultural fields or pastures.

Resident throughout much of North America, from southern Canada through the central and eastern United States into parts of Mexico.

Large generalist consumer; they act as seed dispersers and are a major prey source for large predators like bobcats and coyotes.

Domestic Turkey (often lacks the clean white banding), various large raptors (which have different mottling/banding), or a Golden Eagle (which lacks the crisp repetitive stripes).

Wild Turkeys were famously suggested by Benjamin Franklin as a more 'respectable' national bird than the Bald Eagle. They can fly at speeds up to 55 mph over short distances.

Good condition; the barbs are mostly intact though there is some minor separation at the tip, likely due to ground wear or impact during molt.