Wild Turkey

This is a striking secondary feather from a Wild Turkey, the largest game bird in North America. The bird itself is heavy-bodied with long legs and a naked head that changes color. Males (toms) have iridescent bronze-green plumage and a distinctive 'beard'.

Strongly barred with alternating dark chocolate brown to blackish bands and crisp white to buff-white bands. One side shows copper-bronze iridescence and speckled brownish-gold vermiculation near the edges.

Densely interlocked pennaceous barbs throughout most of the vane for flight rigidity; some plumulaceous (downy) barbs at the very base (calamus area).

Relatively stiff and firm; the surface is smooth with a slight oily sheen for water resistance. The dark bands often have a subtle metallic or glossy luster.

Bold white-on-dark-brown horizontal barring; large size; distinctive coppery speckling on one vane; stiff, thick rachis.

Open woodlands, hardwood forests with scattered clearings, pastures, and increasingly common in suburban areas with tree cover.

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

Omnivorous foragers that act as seed dispersers and insect controllers; they are also a primary prey species for large mammalian predators and occasionally raptors.

Greater Sage-Grouse (smaller, different barring) or certain large raptors (which usually lack the clean white-and-chocolate rhythmic barring).

Wild Turkeys were famously proposed 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.

Fair to Good. There is some minor separation of the barbs (zipper effect) at the tip and base, likely from hitting the ground or weather exposure after molting.