Monday, December 26, 2016
Feather Identification #53 Wild Turkeys
We've deduced that the two barred feathers we have found in our yard are both from wild turkeys.
It was a bit of a let-down to find out they were from turkeys. I won't even lie.
We see hawk-like birds perching on our trees, and soaring around almost everyday, so we were hopeful that these feathers belonged to them and would help us identify them. But we will just have to work to get a better look at those birds through our binoculars, so as to find out what they are.
To identify these feathers, we used The Feather Atlas on The U.S. Fish and Wildlife's Website.
It looks like one of the feathers is a primary wing feather from a female. Note: This feather looks absolutely perfect for a quill. Now I can't help but wonder about quills, and quill-making, etc.
And the other is a tail feather, probably from a male.
Further, secondary evidence that these feathers belong to turkeys and not another bird:
our neighbor says whole flocks of wild turkeys will come and stay on the property
and the range map of the wild turkey puts them squarely in our new neck of the woods. (Or is it the other way around and we are in their neck of the woods now?)
and Dwayne and I heard the same bird call you can hear at the link above one night as they moved through the woods next to our house. Turkeys make quite a ruckus between rustling dry leaves and gobbling.
#53 Wild Turkeys