Wild Turkey

This feather comes from the Wild Turkey, a large, ground-dwelling bird known for its heavy body and fan-shaped tail. The bird is primarily dark with iridescent bronze and green highlights. This specific feather is a body contour feather used for both streamlining the bird's shape and providing thermal insulation.

Uniformly dusky brown to iridescent bronze-brown; lacks the sharp white barring found on wing flight feathers. The base is light grey to white in the downy section.

Dual structure: the distal half is pennaceous and tightly interlocked, while the proximal half is highly plumulaceous (downy) for insulation.

Distal vane is smooth and slightly glossy with a stiff feel; proximal section is extremely soft, fluffy, and matte.

Broad spade-like shape, extensive downy base (plumulaceous), and uniform dark brown coloration with a subtle metallic sheen.

Open woodlands, hardwood forests with scattered openings, pastures, and agricultural fields.

Resident throughout most of North America, from southern Canada through the United States to central Mexico.

Omnivorous foragers that disperse seeds and control insect populations; they serve as a primary prey species for large predators.

Female Ring-necked Pheasant (smaller, more mottled), Black Vulture (lacks the extensive downy base and characteristic shape).

The Wild Turkey was Benjamin Franklin's preferred choice for the national bird of the United States over the Bald Eagle. Turkeys can have up to 6,000 feathers on their body.

Fair to Good. Shows some splitting of the pennaceous barbs and slight matting of the downy base, likely a naturally molted specimen.